Not the Only One
by LaurenceEM
Summary: Elizabeth Carliton. One friend, and a drinking problem. Remus Lupin. Marauder with a secret.Because one full Moon can make a lifelong impact, Eliza finds her life becoming much harder than ever before. Rated M for safety. Marauders era, RemusOc
1. Beginning of the End

The classroom was empty, dark and cold.

It was December after all.

The only sounds in the large room were the slow glugging of a bottle, the depressing murmers of a young lady's voice, and the sound of tears hitting the marble floor.

"God, am I really such a loser?"

The girl murmered, right hand holding the right side of her face, while her left hand brought a large muggle beer bottle up to her mouth every so often.

"I mean, I'm probably the only person in the god-forsaken school that's beaten like I am... on a weekly basis, at least."

Glug, glug.

Her long blonde hair was matted, and blotched with red from the nasty gash on the left side of her cheek.

Tears leeked from her eyes, though she ignored them, letting them hit the floor.

"And then again, I might not be. I could just be a pathetic little wimp that spends all her time feeling sorry for herself."

She sighed, bringing her left wrist up to her cheek and smearing the blood across it.

The tears mingled with the wounds, stinging from the salt.

"And here I am, crying. I'm litterly rubbing salt on the wound, too."

Bringing the bottle back up to her wet lips, the last few drops falling on her tongue.

" guhhh... Damn."

She brought the bottle back down to her lap, before hurling it at the expanse of wall across from her.

The bottle smashed, and then the sweet tingling sound of glass hitting the floor.

A house elf appeared beside the shards of glass, about to start cleaning, till she saw the miserable girl.

The house elf didn't say anything for a second, just overlooked the drunk student, who stared right back with pale blue eyes.

"Is miss alright?"

The girl sighed, her eyes landing on the glass littering the floor.

"If you don't mind, name's Eliza. And if you got any, could you grab me 'nother coup- hic couple muggle beers? I need just a few more, me think."

The house elf looked at Eliza hesitantly, but nodded and replied.

" Of course, Ms.Eliza, I'll be right back."

With a crack, the room was once again empty, moonlight pouring in through the window behind the blonde.

The was a few minutes pause, and then the house elf appeared with another crack.

In her tiny hands was a brown paper bag, jingling as she hurried over to Eliza.

"Here you are, Ms.Eliza. Would you like anything else?"

Eliza thought for a second, staring down into the paper bag.

Sighing the girl nodded.

"Can you.. mm.. Leave the glass to me? I'd like to pick it up me-self. And could you hic leave a note on Lily Evan's bedside table for me? She's in Gryffindor. Just say that I'm not gonna be going to classes tomorrow. And tell her thanks for the birthday present she gave me today. It was awsome."

The Elf's eyes looked down to her feet for a second, before nodding somberly.

"Yes, Ms.Eliza."

The house elf was gone in a crack, leaving the girl alone once again.

"sigh Guess I should finish before sunrise, then."

Eliza pulled out a cold beer bottle, prying the metal cap off with clamy hands. The pain stung like a bitch for a while, brand new cuts exposed to the cool air, but subsided after time with help from the icyness of the bottle clung in her hand.

After a while, Eliza heard quiet footsteps, sniggering and whispered voices.

A few minutes after they passed, Eliza spoke to herself again.

"Ya know, I bet those Marauder boys live's are relativly good to them. Friends, girls, grades. mmhmmm.. Must have it pretty god damn good."

Sliding of the teacher's desk to the floor, Eliza rested her head against the hard polished wood.

Taking a swig from her beer, she smacked her lips lightly at the fizzyness of the first sip.

"And...and Lily, too. She's got grades, and friends, and that Potter boy to protect her from harm... ughh.. that sounded cheesy.. maybe I should stop being a wizard, and be a romantic novelist!"

Fantisizing for a few moments, sipping from her beer, the alcholic giggled unchararisticly.

"Nahh... I'd be a Angst novelist.. I'd write about my life, and all the muggles goths and Emos would worship my sadistic writing."

She smiled sadly, swishing the beer in it's bottle before bringing it back up to her mouth.

A bird chirped outside, and the smile was immediantly wiped off of the girl's face.

"Shit, It's two hours t' dawn."

Standing up, Eliza staggered over to the glass shards on the pale floor, dropping to her knees and reaching out for the glittering pieces.

Grabbing a handful, She breathed in sharply, the glass cutting into her palms, blood trickling down her wrist.

Eliza threw them into the paper bag, handful after handful, the shards digging deeper into her flesh as more glass pushed them down.

Crimson liquid spilled generously down her arm now, staining her white nightgown's hem.

The last of the shards picked up and tossed into the bag, Eliza hid it in one of the nearby pantries and bolting out the door.

Even completly drunk, Eliza managed to get out the front doors without striking suspicion.

_I should've brought my wand... Fuck me.._

Sprinting towards the woods, Eliza glanced back at the castle to see the Slytherin quiditch team striding out.

Dashing behind a large tree, Eliza waited for them to pass before heading farther into the forbidden forest, pulling her robes off and wrapping it around her bleeding hand, hissing at the pain of the embedded shards.

Fumbling through the woods, Eliza straightened at the sound of a wolf howling.

_Weird, bit late for that ain't it?_

Leaves crunched behind a nearby tree, and Eliza whipped around, eyes widened in fright.

"Who's 'ere?"

Eliza slurred, her eyelids feeling heavy.

There was a growl and far off, a dog barked.

A large shadowed figure advanced from behind the tree Eliza was facing, another growl erupting from it.

It was obviously not human.

"ehhhh..."

Backing up, Eliza tripped on a root, crashing to the ground with a thud.

Groaning, the frightened girl was met by a pair of golden eyes.

And adorning those eyes was a large werewolf.

"Oh god.."

Eliza breathed, backing up on all fours as best she could with a injured hand.

The werewolf just advanced further, haunched over as if about charge right at her.

Within a few seconds, Eliza was met with the bark of a tree pressing up against her back, as the werewolf trodded closer with each of the blonde's quickened breaths.

"ohh... Stay back!! I've... I've got silver!!!"

Eliza groped at her collar bone, pulling up two silver dog tags, one with her full name on it, and the other with the head of a lion on it, the groves painted in red.

The next step of the werewolf was nonexistant currently, as it's gaze dropped from her petrified blue eyes to the dull silver tags around her neck.

The wolf sniffed the air for a second, it's head turning backwards briefly, as if sensing somthing.

Eliza took a deep breath and pushed herself up off the ground, darting past the tree as fast as she could, though her attempts seemed fatile. The sound of thudding paws could be heard even over the girl's pounding heartbeat, which almost blocked out all sound in her ears.

The paws got closer and closer.

Eliza ran to her limit, seeing a small clearing up ahead, and other animals.

In the dimly lighted clearing, blue eyes flickered over 3 animals, all looking none too happy. The first she saw was a tall Deer, it's head bowed as if ready to charge. On it's back was a jittering fat rat, peering over the shoulder of the deer. But what made Eliza come to a halt was a large black dog.

Now, don't get me wrong, Eliza was a big fan of dogs, she had been planning to adopt one on her following summer break, but this one struck fear through her body that made her make one fatal mistake that changed her life.

She stopped.

Stopped running

Stopped breathing.

And it was the biggest mistake she could make.

The was a faily loud snarl behind her, and by the time Eliza had swiveled around on pure instinct, it was too late.

Large fangs sunk deep into her right shoulder, pushing her to the ground and on her knees as her hands meekly tried to pry them off.

She could feel even more blood pouring down her arm, soaking her night gown and sticking her clothes to her body.

She gasped for breath, eyes wide with shock, her body quivering and contorting as the werewolf's jaws crushed her collarbone, and dislocated her arm.

There was movement behind her, and she cried out as the werewolf was pulled off her, teeth ripped out from the wounds, letting ample amounts of blood seep out.

Looking through bleary eyes, Eliza watched as the black dog and the werewolf tossled around, snapping their jaws at each other.

The deer ran to her side, it's body changing to that of a human boy's.

He was familiar, untidy black hair and warm hazel eyes.

Strong arms wrapped around her shoulders lightly, making sure to not touch anywhere near the bite.

The shock, exhaustion and alcohol finally started taking effect, Eliza's body collapsing against the boy's

Her vision grew dark and blurry, and her hearing faded out, but not before hearing a deep voice speak to her reasuringly.

_"Everything's going to be okay.."_


	2. Overlooking The Damage

Ello, Ello! Second Chappie up, hopefully I'll have another one in a couple days!

Disclaimer: I Don't own the Marauders, just Elizabeth, Marri, and Future Oc's. Oh, and the books, a video of the first movie (broken) and some dreams of maybe owning more one day.

Enjoy!

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Lily evans walked down the hallway from her charms class, arms wrapped tightly around her book bag, mind on her friend, Eliza.

"I can't believe her sometimes.. Just dissapearing for a couple days... She's never gonna make it through this year with the effort she's putting in."

Sighing and walking down the stairs to the great hall for lunch, Lily was curious at the large crowd that had formed by the front doors, and the sight of Dumbledore, Mcgonnagal and and various other teachers huddled in the middle.

One of Lily's other friends, Marri came rushing out through the crowd.

Pulling Lily into a hug, She started to speak to the confused teenager.

"Oh my god, Lily. It's horrible, I'm so sorry.."

Lily pushed Marri back to look her in the eyes.

"What's happening?"

Marri looked away, her eyes drifting towards the crowd, bofore closing them.

"It's that friend of yours Elizabeth. James and his friends found her outside on the edge of the forbidden forest, half dead!"

Marri said really fast, bracing for Lily's reaction.

But when she opened her eyes a minute later, Lily wasn't there.

Instead, she was shoving her way through the crowd, her eyes wide as she saw the sight of her friends.

James had his arm linked under Eliza's, showing that it was him who had probably carried her up to the school.

He wasn't bleeding very much, just bruised and shaken.

Peter was talking to Mcgonnagal, and had a rather nasty gash on his left hand.

Sirius and Remus were the in the worst condition of all the Marauders.

Sirius' face showed extreme exaust, as well as some bleeding cuts. His left arm had a deep gash running from his shoulder to just before his wrist, and was bleeding profusely. His shirt was torn largely in some places, mostly his abdomen, which was soaked in blood, and cut deeply, along with a quite deep bite in his side. His legs seemed okay, albeit some bleeding scratches.

Sirius had seemingly helped Remus up to the school, because his arm was around Remus' shoulders, and Remus looked like he couldn't have in no way walked by himself up to the school.

Remus' right leg was a bloody mess, the pant leg just shreds, and his shirt and the rest of his pants were almost as bad.

His face was cut quite deep in multiple places, and his arms too, with some large bite marks in some places. Parts of his chest were scratched badly, and at the junction of his left arm and his left shoulder was a dark bruise forming under pieces of ripped flesh and blood.

Sirius was doing his best to hold himself and Remus from collapsing to the ground, even though they were both kneeling on the ground.

Remus was shaking uncontrollably, his eyes squeezed shut.

And then there was Elizabeth Carliton.

The usually pale girl, a beautiful porclein doll with a face that showed mostly angst and distance.

And now she wasn't any of that.

Her eyes were a dull greyish blue, somewhat simular to Sirius', and her hair was blotched with blood, at least more than half red.

Her skin was as white as snow.

The bottom lip was quivering, and her eyes were closed, half concious.

Lily held back a scream of fright before running to james and holding Eliza.

"Oh my god... Eliza, what did you do?"

James looked at Lily.

"She's your friend?"

Lily looked at James.

For the one time in her years of knowing the boy, his face was completly different from what she had ever seen before.

There was a sign of sadness and regret, along with bits of sympathy.

"Move out of the way! Out of the way!"

Came a voice from outside the crowd.

it was Madame Pomfrey.

"My..."

Madame Promrey looked over the students before her.

Dumbledore walked over to her.

"I'll help you take them up."

A couple other teachers pitched in levitating the hurt students, as well as some older students.

Lily followed them up, thin streaks of tears upon her cheeks, her friend's arms over her shoulders, trying to comfort her.

"It's okay, Lily. It always looks worse than it really is."

Lily sniffed, rubbing her eyes on the sleeve of her robes.

"She looked so bad, it scared me."

They weren't aloud into the hospital wing, so Marri and the others led Lily down to the common room, where they took her up to her dorm and sat with her, trying to cheer her up.

Madame Pomfrey wrinkled her nose at the sight of the girl before her.

Parts of her body were mangled, and thick blood caked almost the complete right side of her small, thin body.

She'd already lost torents of blood, and her body was starting to slow down.

Her eyes were closed, and her skin blended into the sheets.

What was bothering the Healer the most though, was the immensely large bite in her right shoulder.

From just looking at it, she could tell it was a canine, and that it was very deep.

Most likely a werewolf bite.

A very bad one.

But the thing was, werewolves don't usually attack unless they've been starved or they have reasoning to.

Turning to dumbledore, she pursed her lips.

"She'll need to go to St. Mungo's. This is too serious a wound for me to heal completly, or properly."

Dumbledore nodded solemly.

"And the others?"

Madame Pomfrey walked over to the beds beside the girl's, standing at Remus' bed.

Sighing, she rested her eyes on the young boy.

"He'll need to go too, I'm afraid. I can heal a bit, but it would do him better to go to St. Mungo's. They can heal him faster and better."

His eyes were closed, finally thrown into a restless sleep due to exaustion.

Moving on, she headed over to Sirius' bed.

His eyes were also closed, his breathing normal, contridicting the condition of his body.

"I can take care of most of his wounds. The stomach might need to be worked on at St. Mungo's, but until it is needed, if it is, He can stay here, along with Mister Potter and Mister Pettigrew."

Dumbledore nodded again.

"I'll go and request two beds for Remus and Ms. Carliton, as well as someone to transfer them."

Dumbledore left the room, and Madame Pomfrey went over to the remaining two boys to check them for wounds.

James and Peter were sitting in chairs a bit farther down from Remus' bed, over by the windows.

Peter was stuttering quietly to James, who had the side of his forehead pressed against the pane of glass, staring into the distance, not really listening to what his friend was saying.

"..A-and he h-had b-been acting r-really w-weird lately."

Peter stuttered, wringing his pudgy hands together.

James didn't say anything, just nodded half-heartedly.

Madame Pomfrey approuched them, making Peter stop speaking, and James' eyes slide in her direction.

She seemed to be looking over them, searching for any outstanding wounds.

"Mr. Pettigrew, please hold out your hand for me."

Madame Pomfrey said, her eyes unintentionly piercing though Peter.

Peter held out his right hand shakily, making James snort and Madame Pomfrey huff.

"The hand that's hurt, you silly boy."

Peter gulped, pink tinging his chubby cheeks.

"S-sorry."

He changed hands, and Madame Pomfrey took it, tapping it briskly with her wand.

It started to heal slowly, and stopped when it was 2/3 finished.

"I'll get you some salve to put on it to heal it further. Mr. Potter, are you hurt badly anywhere?"

James looked at her, and blinked stupidly.

Clenching his hand for a second, he shook his head, turning back to the window.

Sighing lightly, Madame Pomfrey walked away to her office, closing the door quite harshly behind her.

It made Peter flinch, and a deep groan echo through the room.

Standing up, James looked over the three beds.

In the one fartherest away was Sirius, who was holding his head with good hand.

"Sirius!"

Peter squeeled, Jumping up and following James, who was rushing over to his Best Friend.

Sirius looked up at them, half waving.

"Hey.."

James and Peter pulled up chairs beside his bed and collapsed in them.

"How're you feeling, mate?"

Sirius chuckled lowly, before groaning and going to rest his hand on his stomach before thinking twice and placing it beside himself.

"Well, you must be feeling real bad if you can't take a gander at me and see for yourself."

James smiled sadly, resting his elbows on his knees and clasping his hands together.

Sirius' stormy grey eyes flickered over James' shoulder to the occupied bed beside him.

"How's Moony?"

James glanced over his shoulder before staring at his hands.

"Dumbledore's gone to St. Mungo's to get him and and the girl transfered there, he's not so good."

Sirius lowered his eyes also.

The silence was broken by the sound of someone pushing open the doors to the Hospital wing.

From behind the doors came Lucius and his gang.

"Where is that stupid girl?"

He muttered quite loudly.

Spotting the once blonde girl, he strided over to her bedside, cronies on each side.

"What a disgrace. Can't even defend herself."

He said smugly, supposedly not noticing the Marauders.

The people on either side of Lucius sniggered and muttered amongst each other.

"She even got herself landed in Gryffindor with all the mudbloods!"

He told his group, smirking and waving his hands around.

"She'd be better off to just die, wouldn't she? My Father says that out of all of the Dark Lord's follower's children, she's the worst! Even worse than that Black Traitor, she is. Her grades are bloody awful, and she's a complete mess, she drinks like enough to fill two of that Useless Oaf's mugs, and then she goes and runs off for days in the Forbidden forest!"

Some of the girls were cackling loudly, making other patients in the Hospital wing stirr and sit up, and Remus' opened his eyes, but quieted by the Marauders.

"Well, this will be another lovely letter sent home to her parents, she'll get hers at Christmas. Keep an eyes out for her in the halls, we'll have us some fun with the weak runt when she's out of here."

And with those words, Lucius and his gang turned on their heels, sniggering and laughing at jokes they were making about the unconcious girl.

"What a bloody git."

James cursed, eyes narrowed at the closed door.

"I can't believe him, that's a new low for Malfoy."

Sirius muttered, his hand clutched on his wand.

Prong's and Padfoot's eyes slide over to the boy in the bed beside them.

His face was paler than it had been, and his eyes poured sadness and anger towards himself.

James sighed, and dragged his chair over to Remus' side.

"It'll be okay, mate. She looks tough, must be if she's one of Lily's friends. Beside, you know Malfoy and them are a bunch of gits anyways. Don't let it get to you."

Remus' golden eyes flickered in James direction before once again resting on the still out witch.

"I know, but... It's all my fault, I couldn't control myself. Something just made me."

He buried his battered face in his hands, breaths sharp at the pain.

Madame Pomfrey walked out of her office, face flushed and eyes slits.

"What is all the bloody ruckus out here? This is an infirmary, not a Social session!"

Hurrying over to the three occupied beds and the two seated boys, she started shoving potion vials into the boy's hands ordering them to drink.

"Sorry."

They all muttered, even though it hadn't been them.

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Second installation! I haven't gotten any reviews, but I'll keep it up! . I need someone to tell me if I'm making these chapters long enough, they're three pages each on wordpad, but I don't know if that's short or not .' Anyways, I'd like to thank the 4 hits I've gotten, though I don't know who they are. It's a start all right? So, Review me with any ideas or critisism. Thx!


	3. Off to St Mungos, and Letters Home

Chappie # 3!! I've gotten some hits and even an alert! Isn't it amazing!?!?! Okay, maybe I'm over reacting, but it's my first story. I'm still waiting for that first review, so hopefully I'll get it soon! Thanks to _alexekia2222_ for putting me on her alert list thing! Is that a good thing? Or a bad thing? hmmmm... Not sure, but thanks anyways!!

Disclaimer: Hello I'm J.K.Rowling! (NOT) I own Harry Potter (yeah right), And I'm famous and have lots of money (I wish). Get the point?

Roughly an hour later, Dumbledore walked in, looking slightly tired.

He passed the Marauders, who were all asleep.

Sirius was passed out in his bed, arm lolling off the side of the bed.

Peter had his head rested on the end of the bed by Sirius' feet, snoring softy.

James had his head in his folded arms, glasses askew, by Remus' arm on the bed.

Remus' face was slightly contorted in unrestlessness, but he was quiet.

Eliza was still in the same position she had been in when he had left.

Her face a little paler, her lips a little more blue.

Knocking lightly on Madame Pomfrey's office door, he waited a minute before she opened the door.

"Ahh, Albus! Did the arrangments go well?"

Dumbledore nodded, and followed Pomfrey as she bustled about in her office, and then to the Marauders and Eliza.

"Yes, it was quite well, though not joyous of course. The healers should be here in about 10 minutes."

Poppy nodded distractedly as she tilted open Sirius' mouth and poured a thick red potion down his throat.

He coughed and sputtered a bit before ruterning to his sleeping state.

Sweeping over to remus' side, opposite the one James was on.

She reached into her pocket and pulled out her wand.

She tapped his left shoulder twice, making the boy wince in pain, and then tapped over less serious wounds on his body, before giving him three different potions. He didn't cough and sputter as mch as Sirius, as he was use to it.

"Has Miss Carliton awoken since I've been gone?"

Dumbledore asked half-hoping she'd reply positivly.

Poppy shook her head sadly, before brushing a wisp of unbloodied hair out of her face.

"She may not look it, but she's probably worse off than the two boys are. Her body seemed to have been very weak in the first place, and her frame is small, making wound like the one she has almost 3 times more drastic than it would be on anyone else. And sadly, she seems to be suffering from high alchohol levels and insomnia. All added up, it's taken quite a toll on her body."

Dumbledore lowered his eyes onto the girl's emotionless face.

There was a knocking on the Infirmary door, and then six uniformed healers walked in.

They had their wands in one hand, and the first one had a clipboard.

"This is Hogwarts?"

The lead healer asked, eyes on the polished black clipboard, where a small neat stack on papers was clipped on.

Dumbledore moved from his spot to greet the healers.

"Yes, this is Hogwarts. Welcome, even under such dreary conditions."

He smiled smadly and waved his hand in the direction of the two Marauders and Eliza.

"These are the three that are to be taken."

The leader nodded and glanced up at the beds.

"You'll need to move the two boys away from the beds."

Dumbledore nodded.

"Of course."

Poppy got the hint and stepped over to the beds. Shaking them awake, she ushered them outside, and asked them to go back to their common room.

"Whazzat?"

James asked, rubbing his eyes and fixing his glasses.

Peter looked like he was sleeping still.

"The Healers have arrived and are going to move Mr. Lupin, Mr. Black and Ms. Carliton. Come back later in the evening so that I can work on some of the bruises and cuts, you two. Now, you must be tired still, go back to you dorms and rest, I'll send someone to tell your teachers to exuse you."

Prongs and Wormtail's faces brightened a bit at the mention of skipping classes, and headed down stairs, glancing back, every while.

Poppy huffed and head back in, where the lead healer was inspecting and telling the other healer which ward they were to send each patient to.

He was at Sirius' bed, and had yanked the covers down to his abdomen.

Running a hand close to the wound, he looked up at the two healers on his sides.

"Creature Induced, Tissue repair, and Organ damage overview."

He muttered quite loudly, scribbling on the paper clipped to the clipboard. Flipping over that page, he ticked something and then nodded to the healers.

"First floor, Marcus Dillegby Ward."

The healers nodded and one moved to the other side of the bed, both resting their hands on Sirius' arms before a blue light flashed and they were gone.

The lead shuffled his feet and walked over to Remus' bed, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose.

He looked down at the young Werewolf with disgust in his eyes, but proceded on with his work.

"Cuts and bruises,"

He started, pulling the blankets down to his ankles.

" Legiment overview, Blood transfusion, Collarbone and Humerus Overview, and Breathing test/Lung overview."

Checking over Remus one more time, he once again scribbled on a new piece of paper, flipped it over, marked off something and nodded to the second pair of healers.

"First floor, Agnes Wilona Ward."

The pair of healers nodded, shifted places and dissaperated.

The leader walked over to the last healer's side.

Pulling down the covers to her waist, his trained eyes looked over the girl.

Again, he ran his hand across her right shoulder, where the bite was.

He paused for a second, his eyebrows rising slightly.

As quick as it had happened, he regained his composure and started scribbling furiously.

" Major Blood transfusion, Collarbone Overview, Blood intoxication test, Cuts and bruises, and Werewolf Bite."  
The healer looked up surprised at the lead healer, before rushing over to the other side of the girl's bed.

"First floor, Eldora Rowena Ward."

And with those last words, the last of the St. Mungos healers were gone.

Lily marched up the stone steps, Marri and another friend, Paige, trailing behind her.

"She's probably asleep still, Lily. We should just let her rest."

Shaking her head defiantly, Lily didn't stop. By the 9th floor, her friends had given up, and just trailed behind tiredly.

Lily had slowed down after calming down, albeit still persistent.

Up ahead, James and Peter were walking downwards, chatting lazily, obviously a little more awake than they had been.

"Potter!"

Lily called to the black haired boy, who's eyes immediantly looked in her direction, filling with relief and happiness.

Lily jogged up to the two boys, emitting an irratated groan from her friends, who decided to just sit on the steps while their friend conversed with the Gryffindor boy.

"Hey, Evans."

James chirped, waving as she stopped in front of him.

"Potter,"

She huffed, placing a hand on her skirt-covered knee,

"Is Eliza still in the infirmiry?"

James seemed slightly thrown off and disapointed at the subject of the question, but answered seriously anways.

"Not any more, most likely. Me and Wormtail just got kicked out cause Dumbledore and Pomfrey have decided to get them treated at St. Mungos."

Lily stared at him for a second before sighing and collapsing onto the stone steps below him.

James took the chance and sat down beside the obviously worn-out redhead, and waited for her to say something.

Peter bid them farewell and left saying he was still very tired.

Lily rested her head on the stair rail.

" I hope she's okay, I never even got to see her before she went."

James rested his chin on his knees.

" Well, she won't be alone, right? They've probably called her parents, so they'll be there."

Lily snorted lightly shaking her head.

"Her parents won't show. Her parents are just as bad as Sirius'. She's Malfoy's cousin you know."

James nodded.

"They've got some of the same looks, same hair and eyes."

Lily glanced at the boy, who's eyes now rested upon a portrait of a mother holding her child, lulling it to sleep.

"How'd she get hurt?"

"What's that?"

A brown haired woman looked over her husband's shoulder at the parchment in his hands.

"It's about Remus."

The woman frowned in a concerned manner and read the letter over the tall man's shoulder, since he was sitting.

"Oh my..."

The woman straightened after she finished reading the last words.

The man stood up, his sandy blonde hair shifting as he walked over to the fornt door.

"Where are you going?"

The woman asked.

"Are you really going to ask me that, Claire? I'm going to St. Mungo's, aren't you coming?"

Claire grinned sheepishly at her husband.

"Heh, sorry. I wasn't thinking straight. Just let me grab my coat."

A thin pale woman stood by her fireplace, a piece of parchment in her hands.

Thick, perfect coils of black hair framed her face, and contrasted her dark mahogany eyes.

Finished reading the letter, she threw it carelessly into the fireplace.

Returning to the leather couch, she sat down next to her husband, who glanced at her.

"Well?"

The woman sighed irritatedly.

"Just about the girl, she's gotten herself into trouble again."

The man nodded, his dark blue eyes glowing from the fire's light.

At the doorway to the dark living room, a pair of bright honey eyes watched the couple for a few more seconds before dissapearing up the stairs, from where a loud crack echoed.

"I can't believe that stupid boy! Running off and then just burying himself in trouble!"

"Mama..."

"And then he expects us, US to pay the bills for his problems! Ha! He's not getting away with that!"

"Mama..."

"What?!?!"

The black haired woman shouted at the little girl tugging at her sleeves.

"Can we go see Sirius?"

Mrs. Black turned a magnificent shade of red before storming off into the kitchen bellowing curses at her eldest son.

The little girl stood there perplexed at her mother's behavior.

"Amby!" The little girl called, hoping her call could be heard over her mother's shouts and screeches.

A small house elf appeared with a pop in fornt of the 6 year old child.

"Can you take me to see Sirius?"

The small house elf tugged at the large black doll dress that she wore for clothing.

"Okay, Miss. But please go put on some warmer clothing, It's cold today."

The child smiled happily and nodded, running off to change.

Okay, there we go. Think this one's a bit shorter than the rest, but there wasn't alot to write, I just needed to introduce the problem, and a bit more about my character. As for the little girl Mrs. Black was talking to, presumably her daughter, she's also an OC, so don't go and try and find mention of her in any of the books, cause you won't. I'll try and get another chappie up by tuesday (It's sunday right now), but I can't promise anything. Remeber to review! Cause It's so fun, you know? You know you want to, It's calling, calling... Haha. Please do. Bye!


	4. Drops of Blood and Tales never Told

So, After alot of painstaking pushing to get my lazy butt back onto this story, I've decided, "Yes, I shall keep writitng, because I really do have no life." So here you luvlies go. Thanks to the people who have been reviewing and such, we all love you!

The next time Remus woke up, he was hit with the most awful sight.

White walls, white furniture.

A Hospital.

Now, It wasn't that Remus had something against Hospitals, other than the repulsive food they tried to shove down your throat.

It just brought back memories he would rather forget.

The painful memory of his mother lying in one of these beds, motionless and close to death because of him was still fresh like a wound.

The was no breeze, and it was giving him this sensation of someone clogging his lungs.

Scanning the room, he could see healers passing by, and people walking to their friends and families wards.

That was another thing that dissapointed him.

Neither Sirius or the mysterious girl were in the same ward.

There was a knocking on the door, and two figures walked in.

Looking up, he saw his parents smiling at him.

"Hey, Remus."

His mother greeted him, taking a seat on his left, his father taking a seat on his right.

He tried to smile, but failed. It became a sad smile, half-hearted.

His mother sighed and brushed a piece of sandy blonde hair out of his face.

"It's good to see you up and adam. How're you feeling?"

Her eyes held concern.

"I'm okay, I guess. Nothing too out of the norm. Have you heard anything from my friend?"

This time, It was Remus' father who spoke-up.

"Actually, we did go and see that friend of yours, Sirius was it? He's awake, and mind you, quite loud. A healer told me he should be up and walking again within a few days, since no organs were hit. We also went to go see this girl you had a run in with..."

His eyes avoided his son's, and his voice trailed off.

Claire glared at her husband for bringing up the subject.

Remus' face changed to one of fear and remorse.

"How is she?"

His mother's dark blue eyes connected with his golden ones.

"She's not that good. They say she hasn't woken up yet, but her body's healing properly, even if abnormally slow. They're having trouble giving her a blood transfusion because they can't find a matching donor."

Remus' eyebrows furrowed in thought.

"Do you know what type she is?"

His mother seemed to catch his drift, and threw him a slightly heated look.

"Don't even start thinking young man. They'll find a donor soon enough, they're quite a few werewolves out there."

Remus just stared back at his mother.

"What type?"

His mother looked over to her husband, hoping he'd back her up.

He quirked an eyebrow at her, his chin rested on the palm of his hand.

"If Remus wants to, and feels well enough to, he should be able to make that choice for himself."

Claire huffed, turning back to her son.

"Same type as you."

Remus nodded.

A healer walked into the room, smiling cheerfully and walking up to the three, tapping his arm with her wand and such, doing a check-up.She pulled the sheet up to his knees, checking over his leg.

" Move your right toes for me please."

The bubbly healer asked, looking up at Remus and smiling warmly.

He moved them with ease and she nodded.

"Did you feel any pain while moving them?"

Remus shook his head.

" Good! I'll be back with your breakfast in a couple mintues then."

The healer made to leave.

"Wait!"

Remus called, sitting up gingerly.

The healer turned back to him questionally.

"I was wondering if I'm well enough to go through a blood transfusion."

The healer walked back over to him slowly, her perky green eyes not leaving his.

"Well,"

She started, waving her wand in front of her, a clipboard appearing.

"Your blood levels don't seem to low. I could look over it if you want. Do you know the name of the person you want to give a blood transfusion to?"

Remus paused, chewing on his bottom lip.

"I don't know, but I know she was transfered here from Hogwarts, Same time as me."

The healer nodded and flipped through the pages on her clipboard.

"Ah! Here we are. Miss Carliton, Eldora Rowena Ward. She's in need of a major, but I could see if you can give a little bit of blood, just to help speed up her recovery."

The healer paused for a second.

" You might not be able to just yet though, She's getting her stomach pumped in half an hour. Poor thing, She had deadly Achohol poisoning when she got here. I'll check up on that transfusion for you though."

The healer nodded her leave and was gone into the hall way.

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

" I'm here to see Elizabeth Carliton."

The boy asked to the lady at the front desk.

She looked up at the boy with a look of interest in her eyes.

"Elizabeth Carliton.."

She dragged a painted nail down the list in front of her, stopping on a line.

" First floor, 5th door on your left, Eldora Rowena ward."

The witch said sweetly, smiling at the young man.

He smiled back politely.

"Thank you."

He walked into the double doors, and down the long corridor, counting the doors on his left.

" 4...5... Ageby, Delitez, ah.. Eldora, Here we go."

The young man turned on his heel, opening the door with a click and scanning the room.

The room seemed dark and dreary, patients in the beds were pale and dismal, most asleep.

And at the end, he spotted black hair, and walked in that direction.

He came upon the bed to see the pale girl sleeping silently, not a sound escaping her lips.

The brunnette boy smiled softly, pulling a chair over to her side and sitting down.

He grasped her hand in both of his rougher ones, wincing at the cold tempature they were.

The room was quite silent, giving it an eerie feeling.

The boy felt content sitting there murmering quietly to his younger sister about home and things that had happened while she was gone.

"Exuse me."

A voice spoke up behind him.

Three healers were standing behind the adolescent, the one in front a gangly man with thin black glasses.

"We're going to have to ask you to leave, we're schedualled to pump Miss Carliton's stomach now."

The boy looked a bit shocked at the healers words, but nodded solemly and walked out of the room.

He sat ouside the door for about an hour, his stomach nauseated to the sounds coming form inside the room.

"So you're still at it sister..."

He shook his head sadly.

" It's going to be the death of you, I swear."

Sirena looked up at the desk above her.

She couldn't see over it at all.

She stuck her hand up in the air, waving it, hoping the receptionist would see.

"Exuse me, Exuse me!"

She called.

The receptionist stood, leaning over the desk to look inquiringly at the young girl.

Her eyes wandered to the dolled up house elf beside her, and cocked an eyebrow.

"May I..Help you?"

The girl nodded.

"My name is Sirena Black. I wanna see my brother."

The receptionist nodded slowly, scanning over the checklist page before her.

"Black..Black... Sirius Black?"

The girl nodded.

"Uhh.. First floor, Marcus Dillegby ward?"

The young receptionist pointed in the direction of the hallway where the particular ward was.

"Thank you, miss receptionist lady!"

The girl waved goodbye, and toddled along, talking animatedly to the house-elf who was practically jogging beside her.

The receptionist shook her head, sitting back down.

Passing the plaques with the ward names on them, Amby read out each one, before finally pointing to one on her right.

"Miss! It's this one! Young Master Sirius is in here."

Sirena smiled, and stood on her tip-toes, reaching for the doorknob.

Twisting it open, she pushed the door open, grunting from it's weight.

The two slipped in, letting the door fall closed behind her.

There were a few other people in the ward, most of them awake and talking to people visiting them.

Walking along the room's back wall, Sirena peered into the beds, looking for her brother.

The last one held the infamous Sirius Black, wide awake, with his hands folded in his lap, twidling his thumbs.

"Sirius!"

The young girl cried happily, scrambling up onto the foot of his bed, which was quite troublesome for someone as short as she was for her age.

"Sirena?"

Sirius gaped, before his face broke out in a wide grin.

"You sneaky little brat, you left the house without telling mum again, didn't you?"

Sirena giggled as Sirius ruffled her long black hair, and nodded.

"Yepp. Mama didn't even notice! You should've seen her, acting like a banshee!!"

Sirena made an impression of a banshee, waving her arms around.

Sirius let out a bark-like laugh, before wincing and resting a hand on his stomach.

Sirena noticed, and placed her hand on top of his.

"What's wrong? Are you hurt, brother?"

Sirius shook his head despite the pain, and smiled weakly at his sister.

"It's okay, Sirena. It's just a scratch."

The young girl nodded obidientely, and crossed her legs, a crack going off behind her from Amby, who bid her farewell for now.

"So tell me about all the hell you've caused while I was gone. I'd kill for some new ideas."

TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

_Oh, Pleeeaaassseee don't send me back out there._

The darkness surrounding her wavered, and Eliza shuddered, squeezing her eyes shut.

It was like being wrapped in a warm comforter in winter, and then having someone try to yank it off of you.

_Come on, you know you don't wanna send me back. I bet you like my company._

The darkness grew a little bit lighter, and Eliza tensed.

She would be waking up soon.

_Ok, I get it. This isn't funny anymore. I really don't wanna go out there again. Please don't make me. I swear, I'll die. For real. Then where will you go hmm? Your my subconcious. Listen buddy, I die, and I'm taking you down with me, so think about it!_

The darkness swam for a second, before becoming icredibally lighter.

Eliza could feel her body, inch by inch waking up as she did.

_I hate you._

Eliza opened her eyes to the white darkness of hospital walls.

"Heh. Haven't been here in a while, have I?"

She whispered hoarsely.

Her throat hurt.

Her arms hurt.

Her legs burned.

Bloody hell..

Her shoulder REALLY hurt.

She was one big, sad, pathetic hurt, that's what she was.

Eliza tried feebly to sit up, only to fall back down again.

Great.

Now her back hurt too.

There were a few muggle tubes hooked up to her arms and stuck up her nose, which surprised her a bit.

Wouldn't they have replacements for the muggle inventions by now?

Ah well.

After lying still in her bed for a couple minutes, listening painfully to the patient on her right snore loudly, Eliza tried to roll out of bed.

Her legs were okay, albeit a rather nasty gash on the back of her right leg.

Standing for a second, she was wobbly, muggle anstetic's and pain-killing drugs kicking into high gear now that her blood was pumping again.

Groaning, Eliza grasped onto the I.V stnad beside her bed.

It shook a little, before steadying.

Using the I.V stand as support, Eliza skittered her way out of the ward, walking along the wall, wandering aimlessly.

"Where shall I go now.."

She murmered to herself, her toes curling at the frigid tempature of the marble floor beneath her.

Passing the differents wards, Eliza made a game out of finding her favorite name.

" Warenes, White, Wilona.. ooohh.. I like that name. Wilona, Wilona, Wilona. Maybe I'll name my kid that, If I have kids."

Scoffing at the thought, Eliza poked her head into the ward, peering through the darkness.

"Hey, Who's there?"

Someone called form down the hall.

Bringing her head out so quickly she almost smacked it on the frame, Eliza spotted a healer walking at a fast pace towards her.

"Shit."

She muttered, slipping into the room and locking the door.

Sighing in relief, Eliza walked down the room a little, just in case the healer got through anytime soon.

Her eyes stopped on a sandy blonde haired boy, her head tilting in curiousity.

"Don't I know you from somewhere?"

She moved closer to the sleeping boy, tapping her cheek.

"I'm sure I have."

She leaned a little bit closer to get a good look, since she was having trouble seeing in the dark.

The boy's eyes snapped open, and Eliza froze as she looked into his eyes.

The golden eyes of the werewolf.

Eliza let out a shrill scream, toppling backwards and landing on her bad shoulder, the I.V ripping from her arm.

Staring in horror at the boy in the bed before her, Eliza crawled backwards until she was flat against the wall, gripping her shoulder.

The door to the ward shook as someone banged on it from the other side.

Eliza made to look around, the hand on her shoulder sliding forward.

Her hand had slipped.

Eliza looked in shock at her hand, covered in blood, and her lips trembled.

"Are you alright?"

The boy was in front of her now, his menecing golden eyes piercing through her.

Eliza screamed, and everything went black.

Remus stared shocked as the healers carried away the girl in a stretcher.

A tall woman stood a his side, her hand on his shoulder.

"It's okay. You probably just startled her. She shouldn't have been wandering around in her condition anyways, stupid girl. Reopened the bite on her shoulder, twisting her ankle, fractured a wrist. She's like glass, she is."

The healer clicked her tongue, shaking her head.

"Well, get some sleep, you. It's almost 3:00 in the morning."

The healer walked out of the room, leaving Remus fozen and alone.

It was her.

The girl.

The one he'd bitten.

She'd recgonized him.

He had scared her to the point where she actually collapsed.

Remus sat back down on his bed, pulilng his legs up to his chest, ignoring the pain.

He rested his forehead against his kneecaps, his eyes still wide.

_I'm some kind of monster. I am. I am. I am._

_SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS_

Laying in her bed, Eliza kept her eyes shut, ignoring the healer's voices around her, talking about her.

"Got out of the room last night, you see. Tore a couple of wounds right open again."

"She found that Werewolf's room, so I've heard. That's quite a coincedence, Don't you think?"

Eliza faked a groan, snapping her eyes open, and looking around.

The healers looked at her with fake smiles, greeting her and asking if she was hungry.

She ignored their questions, and protests as she pulled herself up slowly, leaning her back against the pillows.

"No, but you can tell me when I get out of this hell hole. That'd be great."

The healers looked taken back, but smiled nervously at each other, exchanging looks.

"Well.."

One started, looking at their clipboard,

"It should be at least a couple weeks minimum, but it all depends on how fast your body begins recovering after the blood fusion."

Eliza's eyes quivered for a second, before muttering darkly at the healers to get out of her sight.

NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN

Remus smiled weakly at his parents as they smiled and arranged things for him.

Today, he would do the blood transfusion.

He had to.

The healers came in with the muggle-like machine, and smiled at him lightly, taking his arm that lacked an IV.

He winced as they put the needle in, before closing his eyes and relaxing, doing the arm exersises that the healers was telling him to do to get the blood flowing.

This was only part of what he was prepared to do for her.

He promised himself he would do anything to help her.

This was his mistake.

WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

Eliza growled as another healer walked into the room, fake smiles and unoriginal uniform all there.

"You guys on a slow as the sun policy or something? I'd like to leave as soon as possible, meaning tonight!"

The tall man chuckled, tapping the clipboard with his wand.

"Sorry Miss Carliton, but that won't be possible at all. Not with the new injuries. Also, you have a visitor. Shall I send him in?"

Eliza huffed, and turned away, nodding.

The healer left the room, and as soon as he had left the door frame, brown hair bobbed in, rushing over to her.

"Caine?! What are you doing here?"

The older boy smiled, his green eyes shimmering at the sight of his sister alive and awake.

"I could ask you the same, you brat."

She grinned, shrugging.

This was exactly one of the reasons her older brother was the best. He never yelled, or got angry at what she did. He understood.

"Oh, you know. A typical birthday afternoon for me. Get the shit kicked outta me, get drunk, run around the woods. Get bitten by a werewolf. Happy Birthday to Me!"

She rolled her eyes, sighing.

Caine pulled up a chair, sitting beside her.

"You're a right-out dumbass, you know. What are you going to do once mum and dad find out, if they haven't already? They'll kick you out for sure this time."

Eliza looked grim, before shrugging once more.

"It's about time I moved out, anyway. They were gonna kick me out eventually."

Looking down, Eliza scowled unattractively.

Caine frowned, putting a hand over hers.

"Eliza... Sis... Love.. You're only 16. You can't even do magic yet. Where in the hell are you going to stay? And don't you dare say streets or I'll hurt you so bad you'll be here till you ARE 17."

Eliza smiled sadly, scanning the white walls.

"Maybe I'll try and get a job at the Leaky Cauldron. Use my wages to rent a room there or something. Besides, I still have some money left in my Gringotts account. I'll get a new key made, so no one will fiddle with it, and I'll live off that. It should last till the end of next year, at least."

Caine huffed, shifting in his seat.

"Bullocks. You're a dirty, filthy, rotten liar and you know it. Besides, what about me? And what about Dakota? You plan on just ditching us with the Witch Bitch? Thanks girly.''

The ebony-haired girl scoffed, glaring at him.

"Almost 20 and you're still afraid of scary old Mummy, Caine? And Dakota's a tough tyke. He'll take care of himself."

The room fell silent for a minute.

"Are you sure about that? You know Dakota's easily influenced, Eliza. He's not like you and I," Caine paused, his lips drawn into a thin line, "Besides, he's already starting to change with you being gone for school. And I heard mum and dad talking. They think he's going to be a perfect Slytherin just like them. Head straight down the Deatheater path. He's been spending more and more time at Narcissa and Lucius' while you've been away. I've tried to keep him with me, but I can only do so much. I'm not as strong-willed - or foolishly brave - as you, Eliza."

The young girl sighed sadly, resting her head back on her pillows.

"I don't know. Maybe once I'm off to a good start, he can come live with me. For a while, at least. I can't stay there any longer though Caine. I can't stand it. They all hate me. Why do you think I'm here?"

"Malfoy.."

"Yepp. And after this, I don't even know if I'll be able to stay in the school. I mean, it's one thing to have a lone werewolf at the school, two is a crowd with that species."

The door rattled open, and three healers wheeling in a large, muggle blood machine entered the room.

Caine made to leave, but one of the healers motioned him to sit.

"You can stay here if you want. It might be better. Blood Transfusions can hurt a bit."

YYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

Remus stared at the needle wound in the inside of his elbow, sighing.

Only his father was in the room with him, his mother rushing off in a dither because she had heard his stomach growling for food.

His father, a taller, tanner version of himself, looked strained, as if he wanted to say something, but was unsure.

"Do you have something you want to ask me, dad?"

His father looked up at him, his dark blue eyes connecting with his own.

He made to say something, pausing for a minute, before placing a hand on his chin, his facial expression cautious.

"Why'd you do it, Remus? This isn't like you. You've never even tried to bite anyone before. Not like this."

Remus looked away, ashamed.

He had been waiting for that question, bracing himself. But as his father let the words slip from his mouth, it made him feel even worse.

"I didn't know what was going on. For the last few weeks, I've been restless. Every touch to my skin, every sound, every movement has made me edgy. That girl, Elizabeth... Yes, I know her name, dad. She's in a few of my classes... She's had this.. this pull on me for a while now. I don't know what it is. At first I thought I liked her. I mean, why not? She's pretty, smart, even though she's barely in class, but she kind most of the time too. She's in Gryffindor, and she's Lily's friend. But then I realized how different this.. attraction was. It wasn't like just any old crush, dad. I felt pulled towards her by a rope, by gravity. It hurt to stay away from her. She stood out in my eyes no matter where she was. Her voice would send shivers down my spine. I could smell her scent perfectly from feet away. A mixture of dried rose petals, dirt..sweet liquor and blood. It was intoxicating. She made me dizzy, and it was hard to focus when she was in the room. I didn't understand dad. And when she came into the forest, I could smell her. Stronger than ever. It drove me insane, like the Wolf's bane wasn't working anymore. My insticts toook over. I tried to fight it, but it was impossible. I know if I didn't do it, I'd lose my mind. Before I knew it, I was in the infirmary, and she was bitten. I'm so sorry dad. I feel awful. hen Eliza came into my room last night, she saw me and started screaming. She was terrified of me. I'm a monster."

Remus' dad looked at him with a sad smile, his usually happy, laughing eyes now full of understanding, regret, and sadness.

His mother opened the door to the ward, happily carrying a tray of warm, and surprisingly delicious looking food.

His father threw a look at his mother, who's eyes widened.

She placed the tray on the table and sat beside his father, worried.

"Remus..." his father began, biting his lip, "There's something We need to tell you. Something your mother and I should've told you about a long time ago."

DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

Sirius opened his eyes, sitting up groggily.

Looking around, he saw his sister had dissapeared.

On his bedside table was a note, scribbled in green crayon with a magically moving picture of a smiling flower, a stick figure that he guessed was supposed to be his sister, and a smaller one that he figured was Amby, her personal house-elf/friend.

The note took him a minute to read, the writing messy and slightly lopsided.

_**Amby cam to get mee. So u lader, Big Bwother. Luve, Seerina.**_

Sirius smiled at the badly spelt words.

It was definatley his sister.

As he put the note back down, a healer walked into the room, three potion bottles of moderate size in her hands.

"Hello, Mr. Black. I've brought you a few finishing up potions that should heal over that stomach in no time. After that, I'll come do one last check-up and then you should be free to go back to Hogwarts."

Sirius nodded, gulping down the nasty healing potions with a sour face.

CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC

"When that young woman from the ministry came to talk to us after you... turned - You remember that right? - She told us a lot of things. She told us about what would happen, what to do, those kind of things."

Remus' father paused, caught on words. His mother looked shock and afraid, her eyes darting quickly between her husband and her son, looking for a reaction.

"Well.. Remus, there was one other thing she told us about. Something we probably should've told you long ago, right after she had told us. The truth is Remus, we kind of already knew this would happen. We didn't know exactly when, we were told it could happen at anytime, anywhere. Remus... Son... What you did was supposed to happen. It is something werewolves do. It's called... Mating."

Remus' eyes widened, and his face drained of colour. His hands gripped the sheets underneath them so hard that his knuckles turned white.

HIs mother grabbed his hands in hers, trying to sooth him.

"You see, Remus... This 'Mating' thing happens once to every werewolf, male and female. They find a person in their life, it could be anyone from a close friend to a complete stranger, and within days, they become instantly attracted. They know that person is for them, or at least, their wolf side does. In the end, The werewolf will either turn and mark their mate if their a human, or just mark them if they're another werewolf. After that, the two are bonded till the end."

Another pause.

Remus' mouth went dry as his father spoke.

He had suspected the feelings towards Elizabeth had something to do with him being a werewolf, but not like this, never like this.

His head flared up in pain, a migraine working it's way into his head, and his chest felt like it was going to collapse in on itself, his heart beating so hard it didn't even sound like a heartbeat in his chest. It sounded more like a hammer thudding against his rib cage.

"I'm sorry, Remus. This feeling you have towards Elizabeth. This harsh attraction.. It's not going to go away. It's never going to go away."

FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF

Ok, Here's the next chapter. Things are going to be a bit slow for the next little while, but people seem to be liking this story, so hanging on for me! Thankz ppl, for you support. See ya larks later! (LUV)


	5. Pull Us Together, Though We're Not Apart

Elizabeth Carliton let out a blood curdling scream as the blood began pumping into her. Something was very wrong, very different about this vat of blood in comparison to all the others. She knew what is was, it was the Werewolf's blood, and as it mixed with her blood in her poisoned body, she could feel the searing hot liquid running into her veins, slowly taking over her human blood, speeding up the slow changing process from her bite. It made her head spin, and her body shake. She could feel the back of her eyes burning so badly that she needed to close them, but couldn't escape the pain as her darkness was taken over by piercing white light behind her eyelids.

Caine gripped her small hand, grunting at the sudden change of her grip on his hand, the strength unlike anything he'd ever seen in his little sister before.

More healers rushed into the room, fiddling over her and casting spell after spell over her cringing body.

"It hurts... It hurts so much,"

She cried, gritting her teeth together.

The first healer winced, and tapped her arm with her hand.

"I'm sorry, I know it's painful, but it's almost over."

Elizabeth only replied with another scream.

* * *

Remus heard it before his parents. The scream that elicted from Eliza's lips, the highpitched cry that he knew immediantly to be hers.

He reached for the crutches placed beside his bed, and hobbled as fast as he could towards her presence, his everything locked on her scent, her sound. When he got to her crowded ward, his mind was swimming, ignoring the frantic shouts of his parents behind him.

Pushing past healers, his eyes locking on her twitching, pale body, a sudden fierce will upon him.

Remus hobbled to her bedside, towering over her with a look in his eyes that was not completely human. Caine stood, his hand still intertwined with her sibling's, his face stone cold, his eyes asking the question he did not utter.

_Who are you?_

The young, battered werewolf locked eyes with Eliza, and immediantly something in her changed. She seemed to exhale the pain, the only sound left floating from her mouth being a low, aching croak.

Remus' eyes held a fierceness that could not be explained, as he took Eliza's other hand in his, and brought it up slowly to his face.

The whole room watched in confused awe as he gently pressed his lips against her skin, his eyes fluttering closed in sync with Eliza's.

"Please sleep."

He murmered so quietly that only the girl's changing sense of hearing could hear. She obeyed, her arm falling slack in his grip.

Remus lowered her hand down for a second, and his eyes seemed to flicker into a state of confusion, as if he had just awoken.

Seconds after, he crumpled to the ground, unconcious.

* * *

Sirius swung his legs on the edge of his bed, his fingers curiously prodding the healed muscles of his stomach, feeling the tight knots that had formed in the healing process. He stretched back to try and loosen them, and winced in pain. Bad Idea.

The nurse came in and informed him he was dismissed, and that there would be a portkey waiting to take him to Hogsmeade in about 20 minutes. She left, and Sirius decided it was about time he went and saw Remus.

He walked down the hallway to his ward, and peered inside. Seeing that the boy's parents weren't there, Sirius quietly padded into the room, sitting in a chair beside Remus' bed.

He still looked worse for wear, his face pale and his eyes sunken in, but to Sirius' surprise, there was a light smile on his face.

"Hey."

Remus nodded, glancing up at his friend from the bandages on his hands.

"Sirius... I saw her today. The doctor's said I helped calm her down. She was so beautiful, Sirius. So beautiful."

Trying to hide his perplexed feelings, Sirius' head swam uneasily. He'd never seen his friend like this. Remus had never really had a girl in his life, and when there was one, it wasn't for long, and he never seemed happy. And now, all of a sudden, he begins to act like he's known this girl forever, loved her all his life.

Did he even know her name?

Sirius had barely ever seen the girl around, and with her battered face burned into his memory, he was sure Remus had barely ever either. He was sure he would've heard about it if Remus had been going out with a girl, and he was even more sure he would've made it very clear that he'd known her well before the attack.

The boy stayed for a little longer, before being ushered away by a healer.

Remus sighed and mumbled of his sweet Eliza under his breath as he fell asleep.

* * *

Opening her eyes slowly, she exhaled a deep sigh.

She felt lightweight, high almost.

Letting in another breath until her chest couldn't rise anymore

She opened her eyes, and things seemed so much sharper than she remembered. She could hear the low breathing of the patients at the end of the hall, and her heart was in her throat, beating so fast and so hard that she thought she could feel it against her tongue.

As she turned her head, she felt herself tense up at the sight of Dumbledore, who she hadn't even realized was sitting right beside her.

"Good evening, ; how are you feeling?"

"Numb. Weird."

she sat up a little, feeling out her body. Even though she could not feel the immediate pain, she recognized the familiar tremors her limbs made as she tried to manuvere a little on the bed.

"I suppose I would like to firstly apologize for what you have been put through over the last week or so. I understand that there is nothing I can do to make it better, but only things I could possibly do to make it easier for you. Under the request of your eldest brother, I refrained from sending a letter to your parents. I hope that is alright."

Eliza nodded, giving off a little shiver at the thought of what her mother's reaction would be.

"No, that's alright. For the better anyways."

Someone walked into the room, and before she could see him, she knew it was Remus by the woodsy smell that wafted to her nose.

Her heart seemed to fill up with warm air like a balloon, and even though her heart was in her throat, it felt right.

Remus turned into her section, pausing when he saw his headmaster.

"Ha....Uh...Hello, Headmaster..."

His face went red with embarrassment, but Dumbledore gestured for him to sit down, a smile upon his face.

"Feeling better, Mr. Lupin? You look at little pale still."

Remus wrung his hands together, and upon feeling Eliza eyes on him, turned to lock eyes with her.

"I'm alright, Headmaster."

Dumbledore nodded.

"Elizabeth, I've fitted Hogwarts to accommodate your..... new needs. Whether you decide to come back is up to you. I've been told you'll be dismissed within a few days as your recovery will begin to speed up exponentially after your transfusion. Good day."

Standing up and heading towards the door, Albus let a small smile reach his face when he turned back to see that the boy now had Eliza cradled in his arms.

* * *

The moment Dumbledore appeared out of site, Eliza used all her strength to throw herself into Remus' unexpecting arms.

Remus tensed slightly at the foreign reactions from the girl, but as soon as he'd been surprised, he relaxed, wrapping his arms gently yet protectively around her, and burying his face into her matted, dirty hair. He wasn't sure what to think.

Was this sudden closeness between them because of the bite, was it purely just the attraction created by him marking her as his, or partially a manifestation of his guilt for ruining her life with just the presence of who he really was?

Although these turmoils ran through his head, it did not stop him from pulling her closer.

Eliza felt her body just turn to putty in Remus' embrace, her mind pleasantly silent almost for once in her life. She felt so comfortable, safe just sitting here. Like nothing could get her, or was coming for her, or would ever again. She felt his grip on her begin to tighten, and oh it hurt, she could feel it pulling on her newly healing wounds, and pushing against unused, painfully tight muscles. Eliza didn't care, she needed to be held. Whether this was just some dumb teenage boy attraction, or the real thing, she didn't care. Tears and small little gasps were the only things that even hinted the pain she was in.

Remus pulled back suddenly at the sound of the girl whimpering.

"What's wrong, Elizabeth?"

Eliza wiped her eyes and nose, before breaking down into a complete sob.

"I'm sorry, I didn't want to say anything."

The older boy didn't understand, until he went to put his hand on her shoulder, and saw it appear. The pressure of his hand made the blood from her wound soak into her shirt, staining his palm a malicious red.

"Oh god......."

Looking up at her reverted eyes, he felt himself become breathless.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't even realize... Are you.. I'm okay, you should've said something, Elizabeth! I'm going to call a healer...."

Standing up and shakingly walking out of the room, Remus found a healer and explained Eliza's problem.

The healer came in and changed the bandages, and sternly advised Remus to be more gentle next time.

Remus did not sit down, but only looked down at Eliza with a broken look in his eye.

"I apologize."

He breathed, before leaving Eliza alone once more, the warm feeling gone, and the iceyness of aloneness creeping back.

* * *

**Okay, so apologies for that ridiculous hiatus. I just couldn't get my lazy ass to post this next chapter. **

**Sorry, all! :)  
**


	6. Returning to What Wasn't

**Yay! So I'm not a horrible author and was able to pull another chapter out of my head! **

**I totally know where I want future chapters of this to go, it's just I have to build up to those parts now and I'm having a little trouble with that. Argh.**

**ANYWAYS, love you all who bother. Hope you like it! R&R, let me know. :) **

**-Laurence 3  
**

* * *

It wasn't long before Remus and Sirius had returned from St. Mungo's.

Walking up to Hogwart's gates, the two boys sighed.

Mcgonnagal stood waiting for them, a somber look on her face.

"Good to see you boys are back in one piece. Is Miss Carliton not with you?"

Remus shook his head as Sirius walked in front of the pair.

"No, her older brother will bring her back sometime tomorrow. She isn't completely well yet."

The professor nodded, eyeing Remus. The look in the boy's eyes was a little unnerving, even to her. His amber eyes held such deep infatuation, something she didn't even see in adults, and yet this boy seemed able to fathom such a feeling. She could only hope that it wasn't just an instinct.

* * *

Caine Carliton grumbled as his flexed his hand, the cramp in it unwilling to go away. He handed the forms and clipboard to the healer, smiling lightly.

"Thank you so much. I'll make sure to keep an eye on her."

"Alright. Well, make sure you apply this potion to your wounds every night for the next few weeks. And I know this is not the best tasting thing in the world, but you need to take one more of this potion before you leave. And then make sure to have a bathroom nearby until nighttime, you'll probably be sick."

Elizabeth gooned the potion, hacking and coughing a little before swinging her legs over the bed and onto the floor.

"Okay, it's done. Let's go Caine."

The young man helped his sister stand, and began leading her out of the hospital she so despised by now.

Taking a deep breath, the girl smiled.

"Let's find the nearest convenience store. I need a smoke."

Caine sighed, looking down at his younger sister.

How had he let so much happen to her? Wasn't he supposed to protect her?

"I....Eliza I think you should stop."

The blonde stopped in her tracks. By now they were outside St. Mungo's, standing on the street corner.

"What do you mean?"

Caine gritted his teeth nervously, and pursed his lips. Walking up to his sister he wrapped his arms around her, breathing in the smell of her hair.

Eliza's smell was the same as it had always been, dusky and complicated, just like his little sister.

Cinnamon, Firewood, and Tobacco.

When she was younger Eliza had never stank of tobacco. Not that what had replaced it was better, she had smelled sickly sweet of blood.

The blood of a sick girl.

He remembered the coddling she had recieved as a only a few months old they had found out she was a Hemophilliac. For all her childhood she had been isolated except from a few family friends.

As soon as she had entered Hogwarts, had been placed in Gryffindor, the rebellion had started, and their parents had turned a hand to her.

One failure child in Gryffindor had been enough, let alone two.

"This self-destructive behavior. I love you, Elizabeth. I can't watch you do this to yourself. All this has made me realize that.

Can you try that, for me?"

The older boy braced himself for what his sister had done the other times he'd asked her. Yelling, kicking, hitting. But when he felt her thin hands grasp at his shoulders, he relaxed.

"If I were to do that, would you take Dakota?"

He sighed. Should've seen this coming.

"Eliza, you know there's nothing I want more than Dakota out of that place, but I don't-"

Caine's sister looked up at him with a look he hadn't seen on her pale face in a long time.

A look of emotion. A look of sadness, desperation and pleading. What had that mysterious wolf boy done to her?

"If you find a way to do that, I promise you Caine; I will find a way to stop myself. Now take me back to school before the tobacco withdrawal kicks in, and I change my mind."

* * *

There was a loud bang downstairs. Followed by a cry.

Lily jumped up from her bed, alarmed. What was going on in the Common room?

"Probably the boys and their stupid Exploding Snap."

Trudging towards her dorm door, she glanced at the only empty bed, besides hers.

The morning Remus and Sirius had returned, Remus had sought her out and poured his heart out to her.

Other than the boys and the proffessors, she was the only one that knew his secret, no.. their secret, she supposed. Lily hadn't known what to say, at first she had been angry, upset.

As if Elizabeth's life wasn't complicated enough, and now this? But after seeing the pain in his eyes, and how this was affecting him, she couldn't hold him responsible. He was just another victim. And yet the situation disturbed her greatly.

He's spoken about Eliza as if he knew her, as if he was speaking of a loved one whom he'd held affections for all his life. Would this be what it was like for her best friend? The idea perturbed her. Eliza wasn't exactly affectionate or soft at her best, and Remus seemed like someone she would step on without a second thought.

Muttering incoherent curses as she exited the dorm and bounded down the stairs, Lily cleared her throat.

"Alright, what's going on down-"

Lily stopped in her tracks,

"Here...?"

A familiar blonde stood over a terrified first year, who's mouth was already beginning to swell.

Students were loosely crowded around, while giving the blonde a wide berth.

"Eliza?"

Just as the blonde turned her way, the portrait swung open and in spilled the infamous Marauders.

"Bloody hell, Remus. You need to calm down, you don't even know if she's-"

Blue eyes flickered for a minute towards the door before Eliza discarded the first year and strode over to her only friend.

'Hey... I'm back...hehe.."

Smiling weakly, Eliza looked up at Lily, who was trying to glare back at her.

"You're a shit disturber, you know that?"

The shorter girl relaxed slightly, her awkward smile brightening.

"Ello, Ello, Lilykins! Looking ravishing as always; and I see dear Carliton's back as well, mind you we knew the moment she walked into the castle! Remus began whining and complaining at dinner, we had to force him to finish eating before he came up he-"

"Who are you?"

James, who'd decided to break the ice by walking over to the girls while Sirius cleared the room, paused before looking curiously at Eliza.

"You don't remember me? I'm hurt."

The Carliton narrowed her eyes at the boy.

"Remember you?"

"She was barely conscious James, give her a break."

Eliza turned at the breathy voice coming from the entrance to the common room.

Remus stood there like a stone statue, his amber eyes boring into her aqua ones, his jaw set as if he was concentrating very hard.

The room was dead as the two stared at each other. Remus carefully closed the gap between him and his mate, their eyes never breaking.

Feeling her entire body tense up in fright, her hands formed fists. She began to feel a warmth build in her lower belly, her heart seizing as a shiver ran down her spine.

"You."

She spat, as he came to stand right in front of her, easily towering over her small frame.

The others in the room grew nervous, and as Lily made to step forward, James placed a hand on her sholder to stop her.

"I think we should leave them alone, Lils. Come on."

Reluctantly, the prefect let herself be led quietly up to the boy's dorms, Sirius right behind her.

* * *

Even though she much smaller than him, Remus couldn't help but feel nervous as her crystal blue eyes pierced through him, as though searching for an answer in him to all her questions.

"Why?"

Her voice was barely a whisper, but it dripped with venom that sizzled and sparked at Remus' heart so strongly that it surprised even him.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to do what I did. I...couldn't help myself."

Suddenly Eliza's body was pressed up against his, her arms around his neck.

A blush crept along both of the teen's faces, and the boy wrapped his arms around her smaller body.

"I don't even know you. What did you do to me?"

She seethed, her grip on his shirt tightening.

This feeling in her stomach, the sudden urge to want nothing but to be held and hold.

It disgusted her.

Other than the day before with her brother, when was the last time someone had hugged her? It had been so long she couldn't remember.

This was wrong, she felt out of control;

and as the fire in her belly seemed to grow the more she breathed in the boy's scent,

as she acknowledged the feeling of the sinewy muscles in his arms as they surrounded her,

the more she listened to his heartbeat thumping against her face as she buried it into her chest; The more she panicked.

Feverishly pushing away Remus, she stumbled back and breathed in deeply.

She'd been holding her breath.

"D-don't do that. I don't l-like this."

Her head was swimming.

It had only been a second ago that she'd pushed him away and her body craved nothing more than to rush back into his arms.

"J-just leave me alone!"

Turning on her heel, the blonde bolted for the stairs to the girl's dormitories.

The slam of the door echoed in the common room as Remus stood still.

It's not like he couldn't have expected that. He should've expected that.

If it wasn't for this stupid..... mating thing. Or whatever it was called, he'd probably just be sitting alone doing homework as usual.

Instead he'd gone and fucked up some random girl's life forever.

He heard footsteps coming down the stairs and brought back to his senses realized he seemed to be having trouble breathing.

Placing a hand over his chest he felt his heart beating so hard he thought it would jump out any moment. There was a lump in his throat as a hollow feeling pulled it's way into his stomach.

It's not like he hadn't been rejected before, so why did those few words from a girl he hadn't known a few weeks ago hurt so much?

"What happened?"

He looked up to lock eyes with his friends, all crowded around the bottom of the stairs to the boy's dormitories.

"Nothing. It's nothing, I'm fine."

He muttered shortly, sniffling in a little. Was he crying? _What?_

Turning around himself, he walked quickly over to the portrait door and out of the common room, ignoring the calls of his friends.

This whole situation was a disaster.

And it was all his fault.


	7. A Simple Touch

**Hello Hello my lovelies! Hehehe, This chapter is going to pull out some nice foreshadowing. Mwahahaha!**

**Anyywaaays.... To answer Malory14, I'll just say this.**

**Her true feelings will become very obvious very soon. She was definitely happy about it in the hospital, though. **

**Thanks to everyone that's reviewed, and to all my awesome readers!**

**Hope you enjoy this chapter, next one I should have up soon, already working on it!**

**- Laurence 3 3 3  
**

**

* * *

  
**

Dakota Carliton was a quiet, small boy, 10 years old.

There were many things he loved, he loved pancakes, he loved playing outside in the garden, he loved his parents and his older brother.

But by far the thing he loved most in the whole wide world was his sister.

When Elizabeth came home from school, everything always seemed a little bit brighter. Mother did not yell at him, and he never got bored, for Elizabeth would always come play with him when he asked.

His big sister was his greatest role model, and his protector.

He remembered how she would protect him from father when he was angry, and if father hit her she never blamed Dakota for it.

Yes, he loved his sister more than anyone.

But Elizabeth was at school now, and so he idled through the mansion bored out of his mind.

Coming to the main stairs, he paused as he heard voices. The lights were all dimmed now, as it was dark outside.

He knew he shouldn't evesdrop on mother and father when they had guests, but he was so bored.

Tiptoeing down the stairs, Dakota brushed his dark blonde hair out of his eyes as he peeked around the corner into the Sitting room.

There was many people there, many in all black attire or wearing robes with the hoods up.

A shiver ran down the little boy's spine as his light blue eyes fell upon the tall man speaking to his parents in the center of the room.

He had dark brown hair, a pale face and a sinister grin. It reminded Dakota of the bad guys in the books he read with Elizabeth.

Leaning up against the wall so that no one would see him, he listened attentively to what they were saying.

"She was just released from the hospital."

"I'll speak to Lucius, I don't think he'll mind inquiring as to why."

"Good. What about your eldest?"

"My lord, his knowledge is slight and we have yet to see him for weeks. In my opinion it's a lost cause. There is no negotiating with him."

A loud grunt of disapproval was heard from the evil man, before he continued on with his questioning.

"And your youngest."

"There's still promise with him. He's very strong for his age, and naive enough. We should have no trouble with him. As long as we keep the other two away."

Dakota swallowed back the lump in his throat as he tried his hardest to make his way back up the stairs without a sound.

Had they been talking about him? And Elizabeth... why had she been in the hospital?

Just as he reached the top of the stairs, he heard shuffling below him.

"Good, good. Well, now that we have all that behind us, where is this magnificent brat you speak of? I want to see him!"

Dakota ran to his room, his heart pounding.

* * *

Sitting on the windowsill beside her bed, Eliza let out an angry sigh.

She had slept barely at all last night, what with Lily yapping in her ear about how she should take it easy on Remus, about how it wasn't his fault, blah blah blah.

Part of her really did believe it. Part of her remembered how warm his body had been when he'd held her, how he'd been there for her in the hospital.

The rest of her remembered the monstrous creature that had torn into her shoulder, as well as her life.

Pulling out the potion the healer had given her, she began to unbutton her shirt just enough to slide her right arm out of it's sleeve, exposing the mostly closed up wound on her shoulder.

Pouring a portion of the contents into her hand, she grimaced as she slathered it on the skin. It was slimy and cold and smelled pungently like tea tree oil; overwhelming and making her feel nauseous once more.

Just as the healer had said, the last few nights had been grueling. Bathroom trip after bathroom trip, and Eliza couldn't hold any food down for too long.

Pulling out a roll of gauze, the young blonde crudely covered her shoulder so as not to get the potion all over her clothes as she got dressed.

She may not be going to all her classes today, but she was hungry as hell, and if she hurried she make it just before lunch was finished.

...

Striding through the hallways, Eliza haphazardly pinned most of her hair up, her bangs still not long enough, so they fall down around her face.

Opening entering the Great hall, she pursed her lips as the bustling and chattering fell almost silent, except for all that whispered to the people beside them.

_Ah, cheery bunch as always. Ugh._

Her face set in stone, she walked down the isle towards where Lily was beckoning to her.

A chill crawled along her neck as she felt a pair of amber eyes bore into her as she sat down.

Out of everyone in the room, the feeling of those eyes stood out.

"Good to see you up. How are you feeling?"

Lily smiled, and began filling Eliza's plate with food as the younger girl stared blankly down the table.

Once she had finished loading up the girl's plate for her, she turned to see what Eliza was looking at.

Down at the other end of the table, Remus was now concentrating far too hard on his food, his cheeks pink.

"Leave him alone, and eat your food."

Eliza broke her gaze, mumbling incoherently as she shoved food into her mouth_._

* * *

Lily had insisted on walking Eliza to her first class, to her dismay.

The redhead had to remind her what class she had, seeing as Eliza hadn't been in so long.

"You have Potions and then a Study block in the library, so it's not too bad,"

The blonde pouted as her friend pushed her through the door to the classroom, scarcely used books in hand.

"Ah, Miss Carliton! How nice of you to join us. There is a free table beside Mr. Lupin and , do take a seat."

Scanning the room, Eliza growled under her breath as she moved towards her spot.

"You've gotta be fucking kidding me."

Collapsing in her seat, she avoided the piercing gazes of the boys beside her, pulling out her textbook and parchment.

"Alright my dear students! I just spent the weekend getting over a bit of a nasty cold, so today's going to be a relaxing review.  
We'll be making a Confusing Concoction! If you need a bit of a memory jog as to how to make this, come up here and grab one of these "Magical Draughts and Potions" from the pile right beside me and flip to page 318."

The class began to move about, most kids going up to the front of the classroom to grab a textbook.

Eliza trudged up to the front as well and reached down to pick up one of two books left. One was a fairly well condition copy and one looked like it was falling apart.

As her fingers brushed the leather binding of the good copy, another hand as pale as hers shot out and wrapped around her tiny hand in a crushing grasp.

Looking up, Eliza's eyes widened as she was met by a pair of fierce blue eyes.

"Back from your little adventure already, dear cousin?"

The blonde girl felt a wave of fear wash over her as Lucius towered over her, smirking.

The hand he held captive was still healing from the shards of glass that had been embedded in it, and as he slowly crushed it in his stronger fingers, Eliza winced.

A few tables back, a chair skidded on the floor, and when she glanced out of the corner of her eye she recognized Remus' glaring amber orbs burning into the side of Lucius blonde head from where he now stood.

His smirk grew wider as he saw this, and moved to pick up the better textbook with his free hand.

"What's this? Picked up a toy on your adventure? Interesting.."

Eliza let her breath escape as Lucius released her hand, cradling it as she swiped the last textbook.

Turning on his heel, Lucius began to walk back to his table.

"I'm sure I'll see you later, dear Elizabeth."

* * *

Remus watched intently as Eliza hurried back to her table, set down her textbook and began to pull out her things to start the potion. She tried to act as if nothing had happened, but her face gave away the uneasiness she truly felt.

His fingers itched to reach out and hold her injured hand in his own, as if such a simple touch could fix the pain Lucius had obviously caused her.

It was a bad idea, but.......

Leaning over, Remus tapped the younger girl on the shoulder, his heart beginning to skip from such a simple interaction.

"Uh... Can I borrow some Scurvy-grass? I-I'm all out."

Eliza tensed, fumbling with her own ingredients before turning to Remus.

She looked flustered all of a sudden, her cheeks tinged pink even though his mouth was turned down in a frown; Eliza held out her good hand clutching the ingredient he'd asked for.

From beside Remus, Sirius watched thoroughly bemused by their interaction. The two almost adults acted like children crushing on each other. It was quite funny.

Remus held out his own hand, taking the ingredients from the girl.

"Is your hand alright?"

he asked as he placed the Scurvy-grass on his table. Eliza was trying to distract herself with her potion, reading over the ingredients more than carefully and working as slow as possible.

"Yea, I'm fine."

Eliza mumbled, before the two fell silent.

* * *

Walking down the hallway, Eliza sighed.

_I'm gonna end up throwing myself out a window if that's what every class is going to be like._

Even now, the two boys chose to walk right behind her as the whole school rushed towards the great hall for lunch.

"Eliza, wait up! Eliza!"

Saved.

Lily was running up to her.

"How was potions? I just had the w_orst _quiz in Herbology. I mean, I'm sure I passed but my god!"

The blonde rolled her eyes and smiled lightly at her friend.

"Sounds peachy."

"Yes, quite- Oh hello Remus!"

Eliza's nose wrinkled in disapproval as the redhead turned to converse with the boys behind themselves.

They had reached the stairs, and at that moment Eliza knew the jolly old guy up in heaven had it out for her, because he showed it by presenting her with the rest of the Marauders marching down the steps along with a crowd of students.

"Lily! Looking stunning today as always."

James and Peter bounded towards the group, grins on their faces.

The group chatted behind Eliza as she walked, though Lily seemed to be bothered by James more than anything.

As they reached the great hall, The group was stopped by Sirius, who pulled James and Lily aside.

"Hold on a sec, Just need to borrow these two for a minute!"

Eliza turned back with an irked look on her face to see that both Remus and Peter were staring at her while the other three conversed.

"Hi Elizabeth."

Eliza glanced at Peter weirdly,

"Uhm... Hi...."

_What a strange boy._

Soon enough the three turned around, the two boys with grins on their faces and Lily looked a little worried.

"Ah.. Hey Remus? Mind running our books upstairs? Pretty please?"

Remus turned to James with a confused look on his face.

"Why-"

Sirius stepped down on his foot, throwing him a look.

"Uh... Sure?"

As James and Sirius loaded their books into Remus' arms, Lily moved towards Eliza, pulling her aside a little.

"Eliza, I forgot my...Arithmancy textbook in my trunk. Could you run upstairs and grab it please?"

The blonde stared at her friend skeptically. Lily herself knew she was a horrible liar, and it was obvious the redhead was lying... so what were the three up to? Especially seeing as Lily despised James greatly and couldn't have a decent conversation with him, let alone stand aside and plot with him.

"....Alright... If you say so."

The rest of the group grinned, before taking off.

"Dandy! Well, we're just going to have Lunch then, see you two later, take your time and smell the flowers and all that!"

Yup, Something was definitely up.

None the less, Eliza turned and started towards the now empty staircase.

Glancing over her shoulder at Remus, who was still standing watching his retreating friends, she let out a discerned huff.

"You coming or not?"

The werewolf trailed after her up the stairs.

* * *

**Whew! So there's another chapter. I apologize if I'm running through this slow as molasses, I'm pretty good with writing the drama, but it's those bits in between that I always have trouble with. Agh.**

**So that in the beginning there, hope I wasn't too vague, but that was Voldemort. I think I've gt the appearence down right? Because he still looks like Tom Riddle during the Marauder era. I'm pretty sure. If I'm wrong please correct me so I can fix it _**

**Well, all in all that's it for now, got a big evil grin on my face as I go to work on the next chapter and I PROMISE there will be more Lucius because he's Lucius and he's evil and hurmmmmm... :) Eliza should be afraid. Very afraid.  
**

**Love y'all! R&R ladies and gents! **

**-LAURENCE 3  
**


	8. What I Want

**BWAHAHAHA!**

**I _FINALLY_ finished this chapter, dear god that took far too long and too much stress.**

**This chappie had actually been a done deal about a week ago, and in all honesty had been a bit.. ahem.. steamy. But when I went back and read it, I wasn't satisfied with it. Besides, we can't go jumping poor Remmy's bones yet (sadly), because we still have OH SO MUCH Delicious drama I want to throw at them and watch them dance with before I let 'em at each other. Not that they won't, I mean....**

**ANYWAYS. **

**This is a tad shorter than the last ones, but bear with me, I spent many nights up far too late thinking about the right words to use to convey this properly, so yar.**

**Hope you like it! Let me know what you think ! :D**

**-Laurence 3  
**

* * *

If tension could strangle people to death, Elizabeth Carliton and Remus Lupin would have been dead long before they had reached the common room.

Alas, Remus was instead leaning against the wall beside the stairs to the girl's dorms.

And Eliza was upstairs in the dorms.

Had been for the last half hour.

Now, Mr. Lupin may not have had a lot of experience with the opposite sex, but he knew for a fact that looking for a book, putting on makeup, changing clothes, taking a shower, hell, **whatever** that girl could possibly be doing to stall for time before she came back downstairs could not take this long.

Letting a sigh escape his lips, he shifted his weight onto his other foot.  
He'd tried to kill time while he'd waited; after tossing Sirius and James' books onto their unmade beds, he'd gone around the room and picked up various, sometimes gross, items off the floor and tidied the dorm.  
Then he went back to the common room and placed his book bag on one of the tables, pulling out the homework he was going to work on; his next block being free.  
And when Eliza _still_ hadn't come down, Remus had finally taken his current position and began counting things in the room: windows, chairs, books.

The answers were 4, 9 and 137, if you were wondering.

No matter, he was patient, and obviously he wasn't going to waste this precious time his friends had granted him because he really needed to sit down and talk to Eliza or his head or heart or both would explode.

There loud bang in the girl's dorms, causing Remus to push away from the wall in anticipation.  
It wasn't going to be the first time he would curse the charm on the stairs preventing him from going up them.

Mere moments later, Elizabeth came stumbling down the stairs, her hands covering her nose and tears in her eyes.

"Ow ow ow ow... Fucking Smith, leaving her shoes out like that. Bugger Bugger Bugger!"

Reaching the bottom of the steps, Eliza looked up at Remus, who now loomed over her worriedly.

"Oh, you're still here."

The girl muttered crestfallen, her face heating up in embaressment.

"What happened?"

Remus scanned the girl.

He had been pretty accurate before.

Elizabeth's long blonde hair was pulled back into a high ponytail that looked damp from where he was standing, and she had swapped her school uniform for a pair of grey pajama shorts and a light blue tank top.

Bringing his eyes back up to her partially covered face before he could allowed to let his eyes wander any further, he noticed blood seeping it's way through her fingers.

"I-I fell. Tripped actually. On.... a pair of...shoes."

Eliza's voice sounded weepy, her eyes becoming even glassier than before.

Remus nodded,

"Come sit down, I can fix it."

Placing a hand on her elbow, he lead her nervously over to the table beside the window, pulling out a chair for her and himself.

_You can do this, Eliza. Just act civil for once._ The girl thought shortly, resisting the urge to either leap forward into his arms and bawl, or run back up to her dormitory again and hide.

Which was stronger, she wasn't sure.

The two sat, and Remus pulled his chair around so he sat right in front of her.

Pulling out his wand, he laid it on the table before shedding his robe.

"Here, wipe up the blood with this."

He could smell the sickly sweet liquid from where he sat, and his stomach churned in disgust as it enticed his instincts in a way he wished it didn't.

Taking the slightly tattered robe from the boy, Eliza hesitated.

"Are you sure? I can always run upstairs and grab a towe-"

"No, no. It's fine. It's not like it's my only one or anything."

It was, in fact, his only robe. But whatever, he didn't care at the moment.

Eliza touched underneath her nose gingerly, wincing every so often. Her cheeks stained a bright red under Remus' unwavering gaze.

Picking up his wand, he brought his other hand up until they just barely brushed against her jawbone.

His heart lept in his chest and his stomach twisted. Her skin was so soft, and as she looked up at him with wide eyes she looked vulnerable and adorable.

God, he wanted to kiss her so bad.

"Do you mind?"

Eliza shook her head slightly, her eyes locked on his.

His hand clasped her jaw lightly, holding her head steady as he brought his wand up to rest on the bridge of her nose.

A light glow emitted from his wand for a minute, and he could feel Eliza relax almost immediately under his touch.

Pulling back, he smiled shyly.

"There you go. Good as new."

The blushing girl's face contorted suddenly to a look of helpless anguish.

Eliza turned away from Remus, pulling her face out of his warm hand.

The feeling in her stomach was returning, hot and uncomfortable.  
Would there be no end to this?

She felt dirty and ashamed for being unable to control these feelings, whether she had the choice or not.  
Even if she could grow to like the other (Which was a VERY hypothetical thing, she reminded herself), there was no knowing whether her feelings were true or just some magical reaction from the bite.

When she thought of it that way, it disgusted her.

His whole attraction to her, the look of love in his eyes was shallow, an instinct, wasn't it?  
So how could he sit there and smile at her like nothing was wrong? Did he enjoy her forced company?  
Maybe he figured he was entitled to her now, a safety cop out for someone who wouldn't have someone to love otherwise.  
He probably thought he didn't need to bother with a girlfriend, he could just chomp down on some defenseless girl and the revel as she was forced to love him.  
Did he expect her to give in to such unnatural feelings?

Eliza gave a shudder as the dark thoughts spiraled in her head, gritting her teeth.

"Don't you ever feel guilty? Remorse, Shame, for what you did? Or do you think this whole thing is okay?"

The golden haired boy was thrown off by the question. As she looked up into his eyes, he could see that her eyes were betraying her harsh words. Her blue eyes still swam with a look of adoration and allure, even though her mouth was now pulled downwards and thinned.

"Is that what you think?"

"You always smile at me."

Remus lowered his hand into his lap, and the corners of his mouth fell as well.

"That doesn't mean I don't feel guilty. Of course I do. If there was anyway for me to take back what I did I would."

"And what, saying that makes it okay?"

Fingers curling into fists, bunching the fabric of his slacks as he let his head fall to stare at the ground.

He felt like a child being scolded, and yet his adoration didn't waver as Eliza stood, hands quivering at her sides.

"No."

The more Remus spoke in his calm, contained voice as she tried to argue with him, the angrier Eliza got herself.

Why wasn't he angry at her?

She wanted to see fire in his eyes, feel loathing and frustration in his voice.

That she could deal with, she'd spent her whole life dealing with it. This soft, calm tone drove her insane.

Just one word in that soothing inflection tore down the walls she'd spent years building; to hide her from her parents, from classmates, from Lucius.

Part of her wanted to give in. It seemed so perfect, so serene and easy to just fall into his arms and be happy.

But she believed she didn't deserve that; She _knew_ she didn't.

Years of being told so, of having to hide from the disgusting pigs of men that had inhabited her life.

The idea of choice was far too daunting for her to comprehend.  
She had been told her entire life what she would do by her parents, and even when she had rebeled against them, she still felt trapped, like she'd had no choice but to.

"I'm tired of people deciding what will happen with my life! No one ever asks what I want, what will make me happy! I'm just supposed to sit back and nod?"

_I'm such a crybaby. A fucking loser. A toy._

Remus stood carefully, and his eyes grew dark with recognition.

He'd heard this speech before.

He was beginning to understand, if only just a little.  
This whole thing- it was bigger than just him and her. Even when he'd talked to Lily, she had refuted delving Eliza's personal life to him, and now he knew why.

She was tormented long before he'd ever pushed his way into her life.

"What do you want, Elizabeth?"

Remus' voice was nothing more than a whisper, and Eliza let out a choked sob as she percieved sympathy in his eyes.

_Security, Peace, Freedom, Happiness....You._

She lost control of herself for only a moment.

A resounding slap sounded as Eliza's open palm connected with his face.

"Fuck you. I don't want your pity."

Before Remus could respond, the blonde had taken off, the Gryffindor portrait shrieking from the abuse of being flung open and colliding with the wall.

* * *

Turning a hallway corner, Lucius licked his lips as blonde hair disappeared down the stairs the led to the 6th floor.

Hungry blue eyes glinted as he strode off in the same direction.

Today, he was feeling lucky.  
Oh so very lucky.

* * *

**Fwar. Poor Remus. Poor Eliza. **

**I'm so evil, augh. **

**Lucius goodness in the next one, and if that's not enough, I've decided on a character(s?!?!) to kill!!!**

***Evil Lightning and Thunder ensues***

**Not like it's going to happen anytime soon, just thought I'd let you know. **

**Oh I'm so bad.**

**OKAY I WILL GO NOW BEFORE I SAY TOO MUCH.**

***Throws cookies at readers to distract***

**You heard nothing!**

**Bye. :)**

**- :D 3  
**


	9. Dearest Cousin

**SO SORRY THIS TOOK FOREVER TO GET OUT.**

**My god, I don't know what's been going on with me lately, I just was not satisfied with this chapter at all, but I couldn't find anything to change so I was just like "Fuck it, put it out before the guilt kills you". So here you go.**

**Also, on a side note; I've been thinking alot about what I'm going to go with this story, and if all goes well I really do want to go up until the end of the 7th book. I'm probably going to split it into two stories, Part 1 in the Marauder's era up until James and Lily's death, and then Part 2 following the timeline of the books.**

**While I definitely don't plan on following the books in their entirety, there's one choice I want to leave up to my lovely readers. You see, I don't mind it either way, I've really thought about it hard and I can see what I would do either way, so please leave a review with your opinion/answer/whatevs:**

**Do you want me to kill off Sirius Black? It'd be at the same place that it happens in the book, but none the less.**

**So let me know, I warn you, as a die-hard Sirius fan I might get to the chapter and totally disregard what anyone's said, but ANYWAYs let me know what you think :)**

**Thanks so much for everyone who's waited!**

**-Laurence3**

* * *

It seemed so nostalgic.

Elizabeth Carliton sat in one of the desks of the empty classroom, eyes blurred with tears and a bottle of cheap alcohol in one hand.

_Is this what I'm destined to be for the rest of my life? A drunken loser; All alone._

"Of course I am."

She murmured, bringing the bottle slowly up to her lips. The brown glass was cold against her mouth as she began to swallow the disgusting, burning liquid down.

"That bastard, fucking with my head like that. I actually thought for a second-"

Eliza let out a sob, silencing it quickly with the lip of the bottle.

Even though it was just past mid-day, the room was dim, the dusty curtains on the windows drawn tightly shut, the lamps unlit.

Like an ugly reminder, her shoulder throbbed and the scars along her body and face burned.

Bringing her other hand up to her face, she ran her fingers over the thin raised line that ran along the left side of her cheek. Just like all the others before it, the gash Lucius had given her had healed over quickly, it's remnants faint but definitely there. The scars were always white, a strange trait. Her brother's scars were always pinkish, and flat.

"I never have a choice. It's not fair."

Already the bottle was halfway drained, the golden drink in it sloshing as her hand sloppily moved between her mouth and her lap.

_Could it really be that easy? Just giving in, never having to think ever again. He seems like a good person, I'm sure he could take care of me._

Rolling her bottom lip between her teeth, she tried to hold in another sob to no avail.

"Even he would get tired of me eventually. They all do."

The door to her right creaked open loudly, but Eliza did not move. In her drunken haze, her eyes slowly lifted towards the door, her hand bringing the bottle up to her lips to drain the rest of the alcohol.

Looming in the doorway, standing tall with arrogance and pride, was Lucius Malfoy.

"Don't you worry, my sickly cousin. I will never tire of you."

A threatening feeling crept over her skin, but as the vodka wormed it's way through her veins, reasoning was lost.

Walking slowly over to the inebriated girl before him, he sat himself down on the desk, snapping his pale fingers.

There was a crack, and a house elf appeared.

"Y-Yes Young master Malfoy?"

"A bottle of scotch."

The small creature bowed so low it's long nose brushed the floor, before disappearing once more.

"You're almost like the old you when you're sloshed like this. Certainly more pathetic though,"

Lucius mused, as though talking to an old friend. Eliza cringed away from him finally, the bottle in her hand slipping through her fingers and rolling across the stone floor.

The girl closed her eyes as her cousin turned to her, a baneful smirk painted on his beautifully pale face.

Strong fingers ran over her bare shoulders, nails scraping along the tough scar tissue where she'd been bit.

"Where'd you get this? Does Lupin play rough too, you little slut?"

Distress warped her face grotesquely as she let the words sink in. It was like this every time, like he could read her mind, and would feed off of it, his too-sultry voice cut through her as swiftly as a blade.

He was in a bad mood today.

The house elf appeared once more, and without a word set the bottle down at Lucius' feet, before disappearing again.

Eliza let her eyes wander down to the bottle. Scotch was even more disgusting than her choice, why did he like that stuff?

The older blonde boy pulled back his hands, tucking a lock of hair behind his ear; The silver rings on his fingers glinted even in the absence of light, making the younger shudder.

"Go on, pick it up Elizabeth."

His voice was sickeningly sweet with delight as he watched her lean over to pick it up, her fingers grasping the bottle's neck a little too tightly as Lucius ceased swinging his legs for a second.

Pain shot across her mouth and jaw as his shoe connected with her face, the combination of the force and her poor balance due to being drunk sending her crashing into the desk behind her.

The room's silence was punctured by the sound of the desk skidding on the stone floor, and the crack of Eliza's head against the leg of the desk.

Lucius' shoes clicked as he sauntered over towards his prey, lifting up a foot to press just below her collarbone.

"If you let that filthy Half-blood touch you ever again, I'll kill you."

He pushed his weight into his foot, his smirk widening as Eliza spluttered, her breath raspy as blood leaking out the side of her mouth.

The drunk flinched as her cousin bent down slowly, his foot back on the ground. She was pulled up by her underarms and propped up against the desk, the sound of the bottle's lid being removed and her own ragged, pained breath the only sounds in the room.

Lucius forced the bottle into her hand, and brought it up to her red stained lips.

"Drink."

His tone left no room for hesitation. She tilted her head back with a grimace and let the liquid pour down her throat, the wounds inside her mouth from when he'd kicked her burning ferociously as it washed away the metallic taste of blood.

"You sicken me. Prancing around with your pitiful attitude in your traitor robes; Thinking you can piss of and do whatever you want, you spoiled brat! Your parents don't beat you enough."

Eliza closed her eyes, trying to focus on the scotch as it worked it's way through her veins.

Soon enough it would flood her senses and become a blissful release; From Lucius, from Remus, from Hogwarts, Life.

The sole consistency in her life, a comforting little nudge.

Lucius' thin, meticulous fingers slithered like snakes up to her neck, pressing against the soft skin so hard that in a drunkenly slurred thought, Eliza pondered whether there would be marks the next morning.

She made to down more of the alcohol as her cousin began to strangle her, the crescents of his nails biting in her flesh.

Eliza hadn't drank much before her throat could no longer function properly under the other blonde's grip. The pointed ens of his thumbs dug into her windpipe, widening the grin on the boy's face as her struggled attempts to breathe shook through his hands.

"Useless girl, do something! Defend yourself, or are you going to give me the pleasure of ending your miserable life?"

Stars twinkled behind Eliza's eyelids as she let the bottle in her hand clatter to the ground.

With what little strength she had, Eliza tried desperately to pry Lucius' fingers from her neck, tears prickling her vision as her consciousness began to slip; And as suddenly as the hands had been there, they disappeared.

Eliza gasped for breath, filling her lungs till it hurt, and opening her eyes to realize Lucius had let go of her to occupy more dangerous things.

In his left hand he clasped an all too familiar switchblade, the handle glittering an emerald green where his initials were embossed.

"I don't appreciate people trying to take what is mine, Elizabeth. Perhaps I should impress upon you this lesson once more."

He leaned forward until their foreheads were pressed together, and Lucius chuckled in response to Eliza's frightened quivering.

His free hand was found to have weaved itself into his cousin's long platinum locks, to which he gave a sharp painful tug when Eliza gasped quietly. Lucius had traced the glittering blade down her abdomen and under her skirt to rest on her bare inner thighs.

"Ah, ah, ah... You know the rule. Not a sound unless you want me to slit that pretty little throat of yours."

Chocking back a sob, Eliza winced as she felt tears roll down her face, and Lucius press his lips to them tenderly, pink tongue flickering out for only a second to whisk the saltiness from her pale skin.

"I love you Elizabeth.. Silencio."

* * *

Lily was the first to notice Remus sitting by the window when the group burst in loudly after their last class of the day had been dismissed.

Walking over to the tense boy and resting a hand on his shoulder, she let out a small gasp as he turned to look up at her.

An angry red hand shaped mark stood out against the boy's pale olive skin.

"Phwoar mate. What happened to you?"

The rest of the Marauders crowded around, and immediately Remus' shoulders tensed further.

"We started arguing, sorta. I guess I deserve it."

Sirius let out a huff of disapproval.

"More like you gotten too thick on 'Love' to care- Ow! What the bloody hell was that for, Evanes?"

The red head glared at the haughty teenager momentarily before turning back to Remus.

"Where's Eliza, Remus?"

The boy ran a hand through his hair, eyes downcast.

"I don't know. She ran off and hasn't come back."

Lily's eyes widened.

"That's not good, we need to find her."

The sudden serious tone in Lily's voice made the group of boy's eyes all fall on her.

"We need to check all the empty classrooms, she'll probably be in one of those. It's important we find her as soon as possible, she could be in trouble."

The group ran out, the last one to leave hesitantly was Sirius.

"I'm not a bloody rescue dog..." he grumbled.

* * *

Apparently Lily and Remus thought differently, as here he was, wandering along the 6th corridor as a shaggy black dog.

Lily said his sense of smell would help find her quicker, something she had stressed enough to worry Remus silly.

Even more so when they had left the common room and the werewolf's sensitivity to her smell had picked up blood.

The had reached the stairs of the 6th floor when Remus notified them that the smell of blood forked in two different directions, one going down the flight of stairs and the other going through the corridor to the 6th floor.

It was decided that Remus, Lily and Peter would continue down the stairs; James and Sirius would take the 6th floor.

So now Sirius had his doggy nose stuck in the air, trying to pinpoint behind which door the faint scent of blood, and alcohol was coming from. James trailed behind him, jiggling doorknobs and peeking inside long abandoned rooms, his brow furrowed in worry and anticipation.

Sirius couldn't tell whether his concern was genuine or bloomed from the fact that this girl was Lily's friend.

As he passed one of the last doors of the hall, he stopped. The retched smell cultivated from behind the wood.

Quickly changing back, he whistled to James before opening the door and entering cautiously.

Even as a human the room reeked, that along with the sudden lack of light make the room seem more ominous than it was.

Scanning the area, he moved towards the the first aisle of desks, James at his heels.

Squinting, he grimaced when he saw a small female body slouched against a desk 4 rows down. They hurried to her, both giving out a cry of disgust when liquid sloshed suddenly under their dress shoes.

James pulled his wand out, holding it at shoulder height.

"Lumos."

The scene was gruesome.

The liquid at their feet was a burgundy gold, and as the two reached the girl's side and kneeled down, ignoring the foul smelling concoction that seeped into the knees of their slacks, Sirius could feel his throat constrict as the light from his friend's wand shone across her body.

Eliza was seemingly unconscious, her face strangely serene despite her appearance.

A dark red bruise painted the left side of her jaw, and ran down along several shallow cuts along neck. The uncovered areas of her body were littered with knife wounds, still oozing streams of blood. Her breathing was erratic and raspy. One of the straps on her tank top was shredded, her arm thrown across her chest to hold it up, her other hand pressed between her thighs, thick rivers of blood caking the worst between her fingers.

James turned away, instinctively gagging.

Sirius shook, but tried his best to hold his composure, reaching out to touch her shoulder in an attempt to wake her. Before his hand did, one crystalline eye cracked half open, her face contorting and her body tensing and trembling. The suddenness of it gave Sirius a start, a string of curse words elicited from his mouth. Her eyes held anger, shame, pain and embarrassment, and Sirius could not help but compare them to Malfoy's, or even his own brother's.

"Don't touch me." She rasped, her voice was almost gone throaty and hoarse. She tried to move, but winced and decided to stay still for the moment.

James, who had since recovered from his mortification and turned around.

"What happened to you?" He choked, but as he had expected, the wounded girl did not give an answer.

Eyes rolling in the back of her head, she moved her hand from her thighs with a cry of pain, before holding out a groping hand.

"W-Wand.... I need a wand."

James didn't hesitate to give her his wand, causing Sirius frown further, his disapproval obvious.

Eliza began to slowly and shakily wave the wand over herself, mumbling so lowly that the two boys found her words incomprehensible. The strap of her tank top weaved itself back together, the smaller wounds along her neck and body disappearing. With one last slow flick of the borrowed wand, the foul liquid and the blood on her body dissolved away. Dropping the wand back into James' hand, the small girl began to stand, her knees buckling and her arms shaking.

"Hey, hey! Hold on a sec, you're still hurt. Let me help you-"

His efforts were in vain as she waved him off, gripping the lip of the desk for dear life.

Sirius huffed at her actions, resting a hand on her arm.

Why was the girl so stubborn? Here they were trying to help her and all she could do was try to get rid of them; why if it hadn't been for them...

"Get off of me! Get off, let me go!" Eliza shrieked, twisting against his grip and stumbling away from the two in a frightened fit.

"Just leave me alone... I don't need your help, I don't need anyone's help.." As a sob ripped through her throat, her knees buckled once more and as the blonde began to collapse to the floor, James shot forward and grabbed her before she could.

Sirius could do nothing but watch as his best friend cradled the now sorrowing girl in his arms, his eyes hardened and his stomach turning.

"We'll take you to the infirmary." He didn't know why he had such a gross feeling. Was it the uncanny resemblance to Malfoy? He couldn't put his finger on it.

"No. Not the infirmary. Just my room. My potions.. In my room..." Eliza's voice faded away, her eyes closing and her body relaxing.

The two boys exchanged glances, before James shifted the girl in his arms and stood up.

"Augh.. She's so light. It's like carrying a paper weight."

Pursing his lips, the Black child turned towards the door, his shoulders raised.

"She getting pale, let's just hurry."

James nodded, following Sirius out of the classroom.

* * *

**Hum-haw, so there you go. I hope Lucius was evil enough for y'all. We'll being seeing Remus' side of that search in the next chapter, Muahaha.**

**So leave a review pretty please and I'll try to post soon!**

**Cheerio!**


	10. Seeing Red

**OKAY so I realize I'm the most horrible updater in the history of horrible updaters.**

**Now that's out of the way! I'm so happy, I finally got internet in our new house today, which is awesome. Also I'm sorry if this is short, I've been so distracted with thinking about the other half of this story (During the HP books) that now I'm excited for that and am having trouble concentrating on where I actually am. So damn. I've GOT TO GET TO THE SUMMER! Once I get there I've got more figured out. It's just hard getting there because Everytime I look a chapter over it looks overly-angsty to me, and then I want to scrap it.**

**ANYWAYS ENOUGH OF ME RAMBLING, Here's your chapter... Please forgive me!**

**

* * *

**

Remus went as fast as he could down the stairs, ignoring the calls of his friends while skipping every other stone step.

_Dried rose petals and dirt...sweet liquor and blood...blood... blood... blood..._

The day he had spoken to Lily for the first time about her, the redhead had looked at him with a crazy look when he'd said what Eliza smelled like to him.

"**Are you sure? To me it was more like... Tobacco...Burning Firewood and Cinnamon."**

The wondrous scent was faint, just slight enough for him to pick it up under the disgusting smell of expensive cologne as he bounded down towards the great hall.

After what seemed like far too long, they reached the bottom of the stairway, the three stopping as Remus' eyes began to dart along the sea of students on their way out of the great hall, faces jolly and stomachs full.

Eliza's smell was lost to him now, his nose overwhelmed by the sudden wave of new scents.

"I can't pick it up anymore." he announced to his friends in a frustrated mutter.

As his shoulders began to sink, a gaggle of Slytherins strut out of the Great Hall, led by Lucius Malfoy.

Before he realized exactly what he was doing, Remus was bee-lining it for them, fists curled and nostrils flared. The reek of the familiar cologne made him want to gag as Lucius looked his way, a knowing smirk plastered across his smug face. The blonde boy was blanketed in the smell, a proverbial olfactory red hand that marked him guilty of the knowledge of sweet Elizabeth's whereabouts.

A smirk teased Remus as the blonde acknowledged his presence, head turned behind him just enough to see the angered teen out of the corner of his eye.

"What do _you_ want, dirty half-blood?"

Gripping the fabric of his slacks in an attempt to control his sudden temper, Remus tilted his head as little as possible in order to meet the chillingly similar blue eyes. He had never been this close to Malfoy before, always watching on the sidelines as James and Sirius meddled with him and his gang. Now that they stood only feet away from each other, their height difference became obvious and unnerved him. He wasn't short, but Malfoy was almost 2 years his senior, and the last dregs of puberty made the blonde almost half a foot taller than him.

"Where is she?"

Lucius cocked an eyebrow, but did not lose his composure. A few of his Slytherin followers had continued walking without him, only of handful staying behind to create a breadth of which the students around them accustomed themselves to, used to the constant tussles between Gryffindors and Slytherins.

"Eliza. Where is she?"

This caused the older boy to turn around, his hateful glare fully on Remus now. His eyes shifted to either side of him as both Lily and Peter came to stand to his side.

* * *

Lucius' brain did not speed from it's meticulous pace as his thoughts drudged through those words. It hadn't been more than 5-6 hours, and he had preened himself back to perfection after meeting with his pathetic cousin; He had made sure of that, and yet he would not dare a glance to his hands, as that would surely give it away.

The half blood in front of him was stained red, his cheeks flushed in anger.

Although he obviously had no idea what had happened to his little girlfriend, His hands shook in fists and his jaw was taut against his pale olive skin.

Lupin coming up to him was no coincidence, nor usual of the wall-hugging teen. He had always been one to cling to the background guiltily while his friends were toyed with, though that was mostly likely chopped up to the fact that he took a sad amount of pride in his new found status as Gryffindor Prefect.

Not only that but now with his sudden infatuation with _his_ cousin since her mysterious tumble in the woods, his scrutinizing eye had somehow been pointed in his own direction. Now he stood in front of him, only hours after his encounter with Elizabeth, and was asking him where she was?

He knew.

Somehow, he could see the blood stains covering his clothed torso, the only ones he had refuted washing away out of the sheer elation and warmth in his groin he felt when he thought of them there, blood almost akin to his own, pure blood, sacred blood that he spilled only out of his own disgusting love for such a putrid waste of beautiful flesh.

Somehow, he knew….Somehow….

* * *

Lucius sniffed indifferently at the mention of his cousin, turning up his slightly pointed nose snobbishly.

"How should I know? Why don't you skitter off and look through the broom closets? Perhaps she's reminiscing on her pathetic existence and drinking herself daft again?"

Remus watched as Lily's wand shot out from under her sleeve, the tip aligned directly with Lucius' face.

"We don't want to play your games, you snake. We know you know where she is. You always do."

With his nerves on edge, the tiniest things stood out, distracting and overwhelming.

A kid passing by to his left rubbed his eye, Peter's shoulder's trembled nervously as he stood beside him, and Lucius' eyes darted to the ceiling for just a second as he thought.

Taking a step forward to front his confidence that Lily would not attack him openly in the hallway, The tall blonde let his eyes fall on Remus, a predatory look that would have made anyone else back away and cower; but his instincts held him in place. A small part of his mind knew what this was.

A battle for territory, and he would not lose.

"Poor Mudblood... You just don't understand do you? My dear cousin pulls the strings here, not I."

Lucius was regaining his composure, his eyes a cruel comparison of Eliza's that shone with a twisted glee because he knew it made Remus' own gut flip,

"Just look at yourselves, chasing her like a cat enticed by a mouse; Bending to her whims for a friendship she cannot understand, for a love she cannot affect. Carliton's an empty shell, a ghost long dead that revels in it's own weakness; Just waiting to feed upon people with hero complexes like yourselves. You're just pawns to her sick little gam-"

Remus' temperature spiked as the words infected his ears, burning in his head like a virus.

Before anyone could stop him, he pulled back his right arm, clenching his hand into a fist and using all his strength to bring it forward and strike the taller boy square in the nose. Lucius let out a strangled cry as he flew backwards into his posse of Slytherins. All Remus could see burned red as he charged into Lucius, straddling the blonde and hitting him over and over again until the blood gushing from Malfoy's nose dripped from his fingers, and stained his wrists. Shouts and screams made his ears ache, and hands clawed at him, trying to pull him off of the now unconscious boy below him.

He was wrong. Elizabeth was an innocent, tainted and corrupted by this poor excuse for family. She would never toy with him or Lily or anyone like that, she was different than the other purebloods, just like Sirius. He couldn't believe what Malfoy said; Because if he was right...

"Don't you ever breathe a word about her again! You stay away from her! I'll Kill You! I'll KILL YOU!"

"REMUS LUPIN, YOU STOP THIS RIGHT NOW!"

The whole hall froze as the woman's voice echoed from the top of the stairs.

Turning his head, eye wide, Remus was snapped from his blood lusting trance.

Professor McGonagall stood looking down on him, a look of horror on her face. Other teachers gathered around him now, prying his slack body from Lucius.

"Headmaster's office. Now, young man!"

Eliza threw her head back as she choked down another bottle of Blood Replenishing Potion.

Her trunk beside her on the ground had been gutted, clothes spewed onto the ground amongst half a dozen now empty potion bottles, some stained red.

Her head spun in an anemic blur, the room swaying like a ship's cabin as she let the magical liquid wash over her and keep her alive.

"You haven't died up there have you?"

The call came from the bottom of the stairs, bringing Eliza back down to earth.

She knew both James and Sirius had been waiting at the bottom of the stairs for her, nervous and slightly annoyed that she was holing herself up there and they could do nothing about it.

A wave of nausea suddenly shook her body, and it took all her depleting energy to make her way to the jointed bathroom without falling. Emptying her pained stomach of the alcohol she'd forcibly consumed earlier, her body shook.

This whole procedure had sucked when she went through it alone. Now she had a feeling it would become an audienced performance.

"Hello? Elizabeth?"

Grasping at a towel hung beside the toilet, she wiped her mouth and avoided the mirror as she stood unsteadily - she probably looked god awful - and proceeded towards the stairs of the dormitories.

Both boys stood with eyes wide at the foot of the stairs, although Sirius' stormy eyes were hidden in the mop of hair upon his head.

"You're quite annoying."

She mumbled as she braced herself and made her way down the steps, ignoring James' hand to help her when she stumbled to the couch in the Common Room.

"We're annoying? You're a bloody handful yourself for a chick who ain't even putting out yet-"

"Padfoot! Honestly mate, jeeze."

James sat down beside where she had collapsed on the couch, his eyes passing over her body. She was mostly healed, a few places he could see bandaged in a mediocre manner, and blotched with blood that was seeping slowly through. He could now see just how sickly her face was when he was up close. The skin around her eyes was red and sunken, with a touch of a healed bruise blooming underneath the one on the right. Her face held a clammy. almost greenish pallor that didn't look right on someone still moving, and her lips were torn, cracks running along them that were emphasized by their swollen state.

"Eliza, are you sure you shouldn't go to the hospital wing? It's really no problem."

The girl shook her head slightly, before going still once more.

"-Should all just leave me alone. Better off that way."

Sirius shifted uncomfortably from where he still stood by the stairs.

"I should go find Remus and Lily, let them know."

He shuffled out of the room and shut the door behind him; James sighed.

Eliza did not move for almost 20 minutes before he couldn't help but break the silence.

"So you're really not going to say what happened then? We only want to help."

James thought she wasn't going to answer when a few minutes went by without her saying anything, until a voice that seemed much smaller than her own spoke softly.

"It's my problem, no one elses."

_Stubborn._

Biting the inside of his lip, he pondered. The longer she stuck by that, the more she would just end up worrying Lily and Remus both.

"You really don't believe that Lily and Mo-Remus care for you? Are you blind?"

The bait had worked.

Eliza slowly, and what looked like painfully, rolled over so that her blue eyes could bore into his brown ones.

Even from as far away as he was, he could see small flecks of light amber in her irises that had not been there a week ago.

"Lily pities me, and Lupin feels guilty. I don't know how that's a hard concept to grasp. If he hadn't attacked me, you would've just gone on like you've been doing the last 5 years. I just happen to be incredibly unlucky."

James' face flushed slightly with anger.

How could she possibly deflect everyone's concern like that?

"Who are you trying to convince?"

Again, a long pause. Eliza's usually unreadable face now flickered with a number of emotions, and James could not tell whether this was because she was most likely exhausted beyond belief, or because he'd hit the nail on the head.

He stood to grab his book bag from where he'd discarded it at the table they'd found Remus at.

Pulling out his Transfiguration homework for the next day, he glanced at Eliza once more.

"When Remus comes back - _from looking all over the castle for you with Lily_ - you should ask him one thing. Ask him if he loves you. Even if you don't feel the same way yet, you have to give him a chance. He owes you that much."

Eliza did not say anything else after that.

She just closed her eyes and thought.

* * *

**Lucius is just the totaly embodiment of everything sickeningly evil. He's surprisingly the easiest to write.**

**More loveable Dakota in the next one! I'm also introducing another character (a canon one, just one who's not been shown yet). So yay.  
**

**See y'all later! - Laurence  
**


	11. Don't You Know It

**First off, I'd like to DEDICATE (Woo, aren't I all high and mighty now?) this chapter to Malory14 because she's awesome and has stuck through my horrible updating for quite awhile now which makes me happy. **

**So yay and hoorah to you Malory :)**

**Also in total apologetic bribery to y'all this chapter is doubley long as usual for your reading pleasure. I've just finished both summer school (barf) and moving (doublebarf) so hopefully I'll have some more free time for Eliza and all her... herness... because I try to put as much thought into this as possible. I really do put my heart into this, which is why it takes so long. **

**(Naflower05, keep reviewing and you'll be next for a dedication! *WINKWINKNUDGENUDGE* like my subtlety?)**

**Also a slightly disturbing note to helendearestt: I'm glad to hear that because that's EXACTLY what I want from those scenes. It's quite creepy though, because sadly those are the easiest scenes to write! It's horrible I know. I'm a weirdo. But don't worry, I'm really going to try my best not to throw those scenes around willy-nilly because I don't want that effect to wear off. What he's doing really is just utter crap. And I want him to be the epitome of evil so... THAT is that.  
**

**ANYWAYS. There some really important dialogue in this chapter, so I hope I was able to get across the feel and the emotion in it. I hope.**

* * *

He felt uncomfortably small sitting across from McGonagall in her office. His hands stung and dried blood flaked off and fluttered to the ground every time he flexed his fingers.

How could he have done that? Not that Lucius didn't deserve it, _god knows he did_, but it wasn't like him at all. Just the thought that he had done something to her, and the things he was saying.. Even now they stuck in his brain like a virus, trying to taint his ideas of his Eliza.

"..._a friendship she cannot understand, for a love she cannot affect...an empty shell, a ghost long dead that revels in it's own weakness.."_

"-Mr. Lupin, are you listening?"

His head snapped up at the sound of his voice, to see Professor McGonagall staring at him lividly.

"-Ah, yes Professor."

McGonagall was not convinced. She raised her arms from the desk she'd been leaning on, to bring up up over her eyes in frustration.

"Mr. Lupin, I understand that right now is a very hard time for you, but I cannot allow you to go around _attacking_"

Remus flinched at the word,

"students because of it. I expected better from you of all people Mr. Lupin, and I'm severely disappointed."

Both looked over at the door as it opened to reveal Dumbledore walking into the room leisurely.

"Ah, you're still here I see, Remus. Good, may I borrow him once you are done Minerva?"

Nodding curtly, McGonagall turned once more to Remus,

"50 points from Gryffindor, and I'll be seeing you after dinner all of next week to clean the old classrooms on the 6th floor.. Without magic."

Remus stood, nodded once to the Transfiguration teacher before walking over to where Dumbledore stood, a light smile on his face.

"We'll be on our way then. Good Minerva."

* * *

Caine Carliton chuckled as he watched his little brother heave a box into the new kitchen.

"Why can't you just levitate the rest, Caine?"

Dakota's face was flushed red as he dropped the box unceremoniously onto a pile of alike ones in front of the sink before turning to the oldest Carliton.

"Maybe, but it's more fun watching you do it."

The young boy made a face, sitting down at the kitchen table where Caine was.

Watching his brother, Caine chewed on the inside of his cheek.

His parents had cut Dakota's hair again, much to his dismay.  
It had seemed like they had given up fighting with him over the boy's hair, as they had let it grow almost down to his shoulders.

Apparently he had been mistaken, because now the boy sat across from him, fingering dark blonde wisps of hair that curled just above his ears.

"Has mum or dad said anything about Christmas? I can see if you can stay here."

The corners of his mouth turned down slightly, and Dakota's eyes darted around the room as he thought.

"_Mother and Father_"

Caine rolled his eyes,

"said they're planning on having a Christmas dinner a few days before Christmas. Other than that, no."

An uncomfortable silence fell over the two. Caine reached into his pocket and pulled out an exceptionally thin, grey wand with a knot at the end. With a slight flick, the water kettle on the stove began to make a faint bubbling sound as it began to boil.

"Would you like some tea, Dakota?"

The boy nodded, resting both hands on the table, his chewed fingernails scratching against the varnish of the table.

"Is Eliza coming home?"

Caine looked away from swishing his wand at the cabinets and mismatched teacups to blink owlishly at his brother.

"Have you gotten your letter yet?"

Dakota looked crestfallen at the question, avoiding his brother's eyes to watch the tea making itself.

"I'll take that as a no. Frankly, I haven't gotten mine either, So I have no clue. I'll try to send her a letter tonight. See what you can find out about Christmas-"

Dakota's chair screeched against the linoleum as he stood abruptly, worrying his bottom lip between his teeth.

"Why won't you come to the dinner Caine? Why won't Eliza come home for Christmas? She says all these things to me when she's here, and everyone's so secretive! I don't understand!"

The steaming tea cups clattered onto the table as Caine stood as well. Moving cautiously around the table, he sat Dakota back down in his chair and knelt before him; His fingers curled around the boy's forearms.

"...Dakota. You know that Eliza and I love you. Very... very much. We would never do anything to hurt you, or make you upset. Elizabeth... she's sick, and you need to give her time alone so that she can get better. That doesn't mean that she loves you any less. You know that right?"

Dakota's face was blank, his eyes staring at the wall across from him.

"She says Mother and Father don't. She says if I don't realize that soon...I'll be in danger."

Caine sighed, questioning what to say next. Did he tell him?

"There are things I don't want to tell you. Things between adults that you shouldn't have to worry about, but _both_ Eliza and I are worried that if we don't tell you soon... It may be too late. Dakota... Mum and Dad have both made some horrible choices in their lifetime, and I don't want this to affect you. They are called.. Deatheaters. This means that they are part of a group that hurt people different then them. They all follow a man they call-

"The Dark Lord."

Caine's eyes widened, and he stood abruptly.

"Where did you hear that name?"

"He was at the house not long ago. The sitting room- it was full of hooded people. I was listening to what they were saying.. He told Mother and Father he wanted to see me-"

Dakota flinched as Caine grabbed his wrists, pulling up his sleeves frantically.

"What did he do? What did he say?"

He saw no marks, no ink in his skin, and released him once more, relieved.

Dakota blinked furiously, his eyes glassy.

"He told me I had potential, that it was a shame about Eliza. Caine, I'm scared! I don't understand all this-"

The eldest Carliton embraced his brother, arms wrapped almost uncomfortably tight around the small boy's body.

"I'm sorry Dakota. I didn't mean to scare you."

He felt his brother shudder as he began to weep, and rubbed his back soothingly.

"I-I'll send a letter out to Elizabeth tonight. Her winter break is coming up soon, maybe we can go to Hogsmeade and visit her."

Caine felt his baby brother nod, but it did not stop his crying.

* * *

"So, would you like to indulge me in your side of the story, Remus?"

They were in one of the courtyards by now, sitting on a stone bench watching flutter back and forth in front of them.

"I..."

Remus took a deep breath, trying to organize his thoughts.

" Elizabeth and I had a fight. She became upset and left. I didn't go after her, but when Lily and everyone came back.. Lily said we needed to find her. I was worried, and when we got to the stairs, all I could smell was her blood. We split up and Lily, Peter and I went down towards the great hall because the trail split in two. The smell.. It was all over Malfoy, Headmaster. The things he said... I snapped. I'm sorry, I don't know what came over me-"

"Well, it certainly wasn't the _best_ thing to do, but I understand why you did it Remus.  
When we believe someone we love is in danger, anyone else would've reacted the same way.  
On the other hand.. I have to say the rate at which our dear Ms. Carliton's luck is degenerating is slightly alarming. With her blood condition,"

Remus made a quizzical noise, his face pulled into a frown.

"Since she was a young girl, Ms. Carliton has been diagnosed with mild case of Hemophilia. We're lucky that such things are easier to deal with since the likes of Blood-Replenishing potions have been invented, but it is still critical that she take extra care. Potions run out. This coupled with her newest..condition raises even more reason for her to stay out of harm's way."

Remus rubbed his fingers against the edge of the stone bench, feeling the sediment give way against his skin.

"Lily says it happens a lot- her disappearing. Said she'd been missing most of and night when I bit her. Even Lily said it. She knows that Malfoy is behind it, maybe Eliza said something to her- I don't know- but I can't just let that happen to her!"

Dumbledore looked at him somberly, before standing and pacing almost leisurely before him.

"Yes, I've heard this before. Ms. Evans came to me a while back asking for help about this. As much as it pains me to say so, there is nothing I can really do. Ms. Carliton refuses to divulge about the situation, and unless she says something to me, I have nothing to persecute Mr. Malfoy on."

Catching Remus' downfallen face, Dumbledore stopped pacing. He sat back down on the bench, hands on his knees.

"Remus, Elizabeth has had a particularly hard life from what I understand. Her being in a vulnerable position as she is, leaves her prey to people like that. On another note, there is something that has been brought to my attention that may or may not be of interest to you. The kitchen's cooking liquor supply has been depleting rather more quickly than usual. I'm going to speak to the house elves about _listening to the requests of students for it_."

With a wink Dumbledore stood and walked out of the courtyard, leaving a slightly puzzled Remus sitting alone.

* * *

Sirius sighed as he watched the tawny school owl fly away with his letter into the morning sun.

It was simple enough, just a note to his sister asking how she was, the usual.

_Should keep her busy for about 15 minutes at least._

Leaning against the stone barrier that kept him from falling head over heels off the Owlry tower, he looked down into the grounds of the school far below, contemplative. Sometimes he wondered what it would feel like to just jump off. Granted, he would have his broom of course- he wasn't suicidal by any means. He imagined it feeling almost relaxing, the wind screaming past his ear, his gut doing flips as adrenaline shot through his veins.

Sirius was just about ready to jump off if it would rid these ridiculous thoughts from his head.

Ever since that stupid girl had come into the picture-It had been weeks since the Marauders had well... been Marauder-ish, and he was sick of the drama she had unleashed upon his friends.

Remus deserved better than some bottle hugging masochist who couldn't defend herself. The werewolf had enough problems of his own, and she was just one more he would be _forced_ to deal with. His own blood tricked him into being infatuated with her, and while Carliton tried her hardest to hide it and push him away; He could see it in those disgustingly blue eyes of hers that she was just as swayed by her own changing blood as he was.

Sirius' grip on the cold stone beneath his finger tightened as those eyes burned in his vision.

It didn't matter what he was doing, who he was doing, where he was going.

She invaded his mind like a parasite, every time he turned around it was something about her.

On top of that, it was strange knowing that he wasn't the only person from a stinking pureblood family that had been sorted into Gryffindor.

For years she had evaded his thought, and he had believed he was alone. Now that he wasn't, Sirius wasn't sure he really liked it. Carliton was everything he would've been if he hadn't been so strong. If he'd let his parents' get to him, if he hadn't fought back against them no matter how much they beat him.

If he hadn't met James, Remus and Peter.

The thought made his throat constrict, because then he started thinking about Sirena.

Was there a chance she could end up like her? He became disgusted with the amount of fear that began to settle in his stomach.

His baby sister meant more to him than anyone, even more than his friends. Unlike Regulus- who despite his many warnings over the years ignored him- Sirena showed promise. A tiny glimmer of hope that he wasn't as much of an outcast in his family as he felt. He did and would do everything to keep her from becoming like Carliton, or worse follow in their parents' steps.

Snorting in discontent, Sirius pushed away from the ledge, sneering at a group of Hufflepuff first years as he stomped past them down the steps.

* * *

_Fingertips danced along the bare skin of her stomach while soft lips caressed the crook of her neck. _

_When she was finally able to will her eyes open, she was staring into sandy blonde hair, and the classroom around her was dark._

_Unable to contain a soft moan as the hand on her stomach traced over her hipbone, toying with the waistband of her skirt, she felt the mouth against her neck twist into a smile before he lifted his head to lock eyes with her._

_Pools of amber, bright even in the darkness of the room shone into her own seas of blue._

_"..ove you. There's nothing I wouldn't do to make you happy."_

_He brought his head down to kiss her delicately, chuckling as she gasped at the sudden presence of his other hand. It slide ever so slowly along her thigh, and she could feel the scars on the heels of his palms brush against her own scars._

_As they pulled away reluctantly, gasping for air, they both grinned stupidly at each other, before she felt his hand slide even farther up as the other moved up her shirt._

_'Remus..."_

_"Wake up Eliza.."_

_He murmured against her kiss swollen lips, their foreheads pressed together._

_Thoughts jumbled incoherently in her head, and she was too distracted by how she was feeling to by jarred by his strange words._

_"W-what..?"_

_Remus smiled,_

_"Wake up, you're going to be late for class. Come on-"_

"Come on! Eliza GET UP!"

A pillow collided with her face as she blinked awake abruptly.

"...W-what?"

Lily stood over her, hair mussed and eyes still crusted with sleep.

The two stared at each other for a moment before the red head broke the silence once more.

"Are you good for school?"

Her voice was but a hoarse whisper over the chatter Eliza suddenly realized filled the room.

On her other side the morning sun fought to break through the thick curtains surrounding her bed.

The blonde only took a moment to think of her answer, before nodding. Content with this, but harbouring a look in her eye that told her friend she had much more to say, Lily drew the curtains back into their original position while Eliza prepared herself to get up.

It was a deal they had made, back in 4th year when they first became friends.

Whenever Eliza came back from her... late night excursions, Lily would ask her if she was going to be able to go to class that day. The exchange had become a round-about way for Lily to gauge how badly her friend was hurt without the constant pestering need for reassurance that the redhead had needed back when they first met.

Eliza peeled the blankets off her body, noting the dampness of the sweat soaked cloth before grimacing as she looked down. The bandages she had dressed her legs with the night before had bled through, seeping into the sheets beneath her and staining the clothes she hadn't bothered to change before collapsing into bed either.

"Fuck."

Pocking her head out of the curtains to search for her friend, eliza found herself face to face with her folded silk pajamas in Lily's hands.

"Thought you might need them."

Holding the curtains as closed as possible so as not to worry poor Lily, Eliza reached out and snatched the pajamas from her.

"Thanks."

* * *

Remus awoke with a gasp, his fingers twitching as he sat up and wiped the cold sweat from his forehead.

Throwing open his curtains in a desperate attempt to catch some kind of breeze to disrupt the stifling feeling he had, the werewolf swung his legs over the edge of the bed and grabbed a small ringed book off his night table.

Flipping through the pages, he glanced at the calendar that sat beside where the book had been.

It had been an almost bittersweet gift from his mother, a calendar with all the moon phases scribbled in her neat, motherly writing in the corners of the days. Immediately he began to count the days to the next full moon.

"Stupid thing's day before Christmas."

He muttered begrudgingly, stopping on the first blank page in the book before him. He picked up his quill from the table and jotted in the date quickly.

_That leaves 6 days._

He began writing notes, small clipped memories of the dream he just had. It seemed like a stupid thing to do, but he rarely had them to begin with, so when he did have them it felt like something special.

This particular dream had been both strange, painful and then at the end..

His face flushed as he continued writing.

He'd been standing in the Shrieking Shack, naked and cold and in pain after the night he'd spent under the full moon. Before him he'd been petrified by the shredded, blood soaked body of Eliza, a sight that sickeningly reminded him of the night he'd bitten her. In his dream he'd _known_ he'd done that to her, was disgusted by himself for what he'd done. But then the scene had dissolved away and he was sitting in a dark classroom, with Eliza in his lap. they had been kissing and touching and.. he felt embarrassed to think about, and he wasn't too sure whether it was just his natural reaction or if it was because it was _her_, and just the thought of them doing _that_ at this point was not only highly unlikely but absolutely _enticing-_

_No. You will stop this sort of thinking right now Remus. Stop, stop, stop. You act like that and you'll never gain her trust and for good reason.._

Taking a deep breath, he snapped his book closed and tossed the quill and book back onto the desk. He didn't bother to put them away, James and Sirius _at least_ had the decency to not go through his personal things.

Standing up and stretching, he made his way quickly over to the bathrooms, ready for a shower.

A nice, _cold_ shower.

* * *

Eliza stood grumpily in the shower, her legs shaking from the pain shrieking in her thighs. She had been there for a few minutes now, frustrated with herself and her overall situation.

Her skin still carried an unpleasant layer of grime, and her hair lay plastered messily against her forehead and neck.

She _wished_ to deal with this, but upon jumping into the shower the first time, when she made to rake soap lathered fingers across her skin,  
her mind had burned with the dream she'd just had, and her body had begun a different type of throbbing than the painful one she was already experienced.

Disgusted with herself, Eliza resigned to holding her arms at her sides, hoping that the spray of the hot water would be enough to rid herself of the filth on her body as well as in her mind.

The fact that she could hear Lily's feet against the floor as she walked into the room over the hissing of the shower did not help her mood.

It was just a reminder of everything that was _wrong_ about the dream she'd just had, about thinking for even _a second_ she might want-

"Eliza, we need to talk."

Turning the shower off almost immediately, Eliza groped outside the stall for her towel, tensing when a soft hand brushed against hers with it.

Wrapping it around her, she stepped cautiously from the safety of her stall into the almost barren washroom.

Lily was standing in front of the mirror across from her, as nervous look on her face as she fixed her hair.

Without missing a beat, Eliza moved into the dorm, checking for any last stragglers before beginning to dry of delicately, careful to not touch any of the swollen red lines along her skin that were even still oozing lightly despite all the healing she'd done the night before.

Her redhead companion followed close behind, and Eliza could sense the grimace on her face as she looked at the damage.

"You have to go to Dumbledore!"

Lily blurted suddenly, causing Eliza to let out the breath she'd been holding.

This game again.

It was only a matter of time before her good-intended friend would say something each time, and while she knew it was just out of concern Eliza wished she would _stop_. They'd been over this before...

"I can't. You know that."

Getting onto her hands and knees slowly to pull out a black bag, Eliza threw it on her bed and began unpacking the bandages and ointments from it.

"But he can protect you! I know you don't believe it, but god-dammit_ Eliza_, look at yourself!"

The end of the sentence had reached a shrill tone that made the blonde look up from her meticulous procedure of bandaging.

"You can't go on like this forever, you can let him _do this to you_!"

It was hard to hear her own conscience spoken aloud to her. Trying to keep a straight face, she continued bandaging, unable to look her friend in the eyes.

_Don't listen to her, she doesn't understand,_

She told herself,

_You tell someone and he'll _kill _you. No one can help you, it's just the ways things are meant to be. He does as he wishes and you take it quietly. You deserve it, nothing more-_

"I don't know what you're talking about."

Lily was standing over her now, a desperate look on her face.

"Please Eliza. There are people out there who want to help, there are people who care! We want to not have to ask ourselves if tonight is the last night we'll see you alive, or have to worry about what that vile, abhorrent excuse for a human being is doing to you!"

Running a hand over her eyes to wipe away tears that threatened to fall and break her facade, Eliza stood and tried not to faulter under her Lily's intense stare.

"No one cares."

"Oh come off it! You don't honestly believe that do you?"

Bringing her hands onto Eliza's shoulders, Lily searched her face for some kind of emotion. The blonde was good at hiding her feelings, but after years of watching Lily could notice the slight twitch of her cheek, the tremble she was holding back in her bottom lip.

"Professor Dumbledore cares about you. Remus cares about you-"

"He doesn't know what he cares about-"

Lily ignored her friend's scathing interjection,

"Caine and Dakota care about you. I care. I hate seeing you like this. You need to let someone in."

Eliza tore away from Lily, ashamed and angry.

She was only hurting people. She would only hurt more by opening up. No one could understand, they would just be disgusted.

Like all the others.

"I'm sorry."

The game was over.

Lily snorted in fury, before turning to the door out of the dormitory and storming towards it.

"You know Eliza, someday you're going to wake up and feel very lonely, and all your pushing away will have gotten you is no one there to tell you otherwise!"

By the time the door slammed closed behind her furious friend, she already felt the loneliness.

* * *

"Sure you're gonna wait here, mate? Might miss breakfast."

Remus made a dismissive gesture as he sat down on the common room couch, some how able to stay fully engrossed in his book while students bustled around him on their way down to the Great Hall.

James just sighed and continued to stand over his sandy-haired friend, fumbling with his glasses and hair when Evanes came flying down the stairs to the girl's dorms like a bat out of hell.

"Hey Eva-"

His greeting was interrupted by a crackling hex from the redhead that whizzed past his ear. Looking around wildly before trying to regain his composure, James huffed,

"Bloody hell, what's her problem?"

But Remus was seemingly fully engrossed in his book now, his eyes darting across the pages as his fingers drummed across the spine nervously.

James felt a tug on the elbow of his robes as Sirius pulled him towards the portrait door.  
The boy was looking slightly frazzled that particular morning, enough to cause a crinkle in his friend's brow.

"Come on, Prongs. If he wants to be a tosser and miss breakfast there's nothing you can do about it."

Thrown off guard by the sheer hostility dripping from Black's words,  
James allowed himself to be pulled out of the common room, wishing Remus would look up for just a second so he could throw him an apologetic glance.

The werewolf only looked up once when the portrait door slammed closed after his friends.

* * *

**Wa-Hay! So there you go. Next chapter will be up... soon...I hope.**

**Thanks for all the love, keep it coming! It keeps me from totally fucking off on this story forever. :P**

**Just going to throw it out here, even though no one will understand until WAYYYYYYYY LATERRRRRR in this series but there is one particular line in here I chuckled at when I wrote because it's going to be pretty ironic when later stuff happens. I know what's going to happen up until book 7. So there. PAIIIINNNNNN.  
**

**-LaurenceEM 3  
**


	12. We've All Got Problems

**Jeeze, you would THINK that summer would give me more time to write, but NO. It just gives me a job and writer's block. And in a couple days, school. Fml.**

**Because I can't really relate to Elizabeth's problems on a personal level (i.e: I've never experienced any of the _problems_ she has) I have to do a lot of research. And by that I mean a lot of Googling. I understand this is probably not the best way to learn about such things, but it's the best I can do right now. This also makes things really awkward when I have to explain to my mum why my browser history is littered with the likes of _Symptoms of Alcohol Withdrawal _and websites with information on Sexual Abuse.  
It's also really awkward because my mum's never really read any of my writing (She didn't really know that I was writing fanfiction anyways) and when I explained I was doing research for a story she really wanted to read it. To which I replied HELL NAWH (Not really) and kinda pissed her off.**

**I dunno, I think she'd probably get all freaked out if I let her read this, I feel like she'd send me to a shrink or something. I've always had difficulty letting anyone I know read my stuff. I get all embarrassed and such.  
**

**Can any other fellow writers out there give me any insight? Is this totally just me or what?**

**Bwarf.**

* * *

Throwing open her trunk at the end of her bed, Eliza began to angrily toss articles of clothing onto her bed, intent of finding a pair of socks. When she got to the bottom and still hadn't found any, she swore and slammed the lid shut.

Of all the things to happen today..

Not that she shouldn't be surprised. Suspiciously missing clothes was a regular occurrence for her; it was expected seeing as her and the rest of the dorm didn't get along. They looked at her and saw something different, something they could drop and try and break. While Eliza wasn't very resilient, they would have to do much _much _worse than this to get to her. It was just really annoying.

Resigned to throwing on a pair of loose fitting sweats for the day, Eliza was glad it was finally the weekend. The Christmas holidays started on Monday, and the castle would be quiet for the week.

No one to bother her, no classes.

Now if only she could get rid of this damn headache.

Deciding she'd have to make a quick trip to the Hospital Wing on her way back from breakfast, Eliza took her time down the stairs to the common room, careful not to pull or stretch too much so as not to open her wounds any further. When she reached the bottom of the steps she was greeted with a voice that made her heart skip a beat to her displeasure.

"..Ah...Hey."

Looking up at the nervous boy now suddenly in front of her, Eliza couldn't help but notice how bright his eyes were, more than usual. His light amber eyes scanned over her body, no doubt looking for any signs of injury. His nose wrinkled slightly as the smell of ointments and blood that surrounded her tiny body.

As Eliza was about to throw a less-than-kind remark his way, Potter's comment from the night before wracked her brain.

What good would come of being a bitch to him? Obviously he wasn't going to let up. Not like it would become anything. Maybe if she could just pretend to be nice, let him drone on for a while somewhere where _he_ wasn't able to see just in case-

"I was just wondering... if you wanted to walk to breakfast together? Just maybe."

Sighing defeatedly, Eliza nodded, heading towards portrait.

This was going to be a very painful experience, she could feel it.

* * *

Doing anything at this point was a struggle; A constant fear.

He was supposed to be the strong one, his sibling's support system where their parents had undoubtedly failed. Yet he was having trouble just leaving his apartment on a good day.

Pulling his cloak tighter around himself, Caine shivered against the cool winter wind that blew into the cafe as the door opened.

Ever since he had left home he'd unluckily become a priority on the Deatheaters list. It wasn't as if he knew some amazing secret they didn't want let out, so the young man just imagined it chalked up to a hurt pride and easy target on their part. None the less it didn't make life any easier, with the constant moving and looking over his shoulder.

"You look like you just saw a ghost. Calm down Caine, no one's going to attack you in Diagon Alley."

Marlene Mckinnon placed a steaming cup of hot chocolate in front of him, her pretty green eyes twinkling as she sat across from him.

Bringing the liquid to his lips gratefully, he rested a hand on hers, his thumb trailing along a vein under her skin.

"How's Dakota and Elizabeth?"

He hated seeing that look of pity in her eyes when she mentioned them. She probably didn't even realize she was doing it, but that didn't change much.

"Dakota is alright. He got his hair cut again. Eliza... well..."

Marlene's eyes narrowed slightly as pain reflected in Caine's eyes, and she set down her drink, taking his hand in her own.

"I understand. It's not your fault, you know that right? You can't beat yourself up for other people's decisions."

"I know, but if I had just noticed the _signs_.. If I had the courage to pull them both out of that god-forsaken house, they wouldn't be in this position. Things were hard for her already, and now.."

"And now what?"

Opening his mouth to answer, he froze as a sense of paranoia creeped over him once more. Glancing to his left, he felt like every pair of eyes around them was suddenly on him, every ear one of a Deatheater, just waiting to catch some piece of information. Caine felt the back of his neck break out in a cold sweat and he could feel Marlene's eyes baring down on him as his hand began to clam up in hers.

"I...We should go... Talk somewhere else. We had to be there at 2 anyways, right?"

Now the pity was directed at him, pretty green eyes looking at him like his mother used to before she had changed, whenever he'd scraped his knees, or cut his finger..

_She must think I'm pathetic, afraid of everything._

"Caine.."

The chocolate haired boy stood, rummaging in his pocket to let the tips of his fingers rest on his wand. He moved around the table towards Marlene, who frowned at his decision.

"Please, Marlene-"

The woman downed the last of her hot coffee, before standing and pecking him on the cheek, her arm linking with his as she tried to ignore the frantic look in the back of his eyes.

"Alright, alright. I'm sure Dumbledore won't mind us being a little early."

* * *

A whole day he would waste in this blasted bed. He would have no time the next day, and after that, winter holidays.

The scratchy, starched sheets underneath his fingers made his upper lip twitch in disgust even further. Through all the potions the bag had forced down his throat, he could feel the unfamiliar ache of pain across his face.

His father would certainly be hearing about this. That stupid half-blood would pay.

The pale fingers of his right hand worked their way from his side to his clothed torso as Lucius opened his eyes blearily. A slight swivel of his head in either direction told him no one else was watching, all nearby beds had their curtains drawn and the old healer was nowhere to be seen.

He continued, hand snaking under his shirt to trace the flaking and crumbling swirls of red still patterned across his skin.

Everything was silent, just like that night. When he closed his eyes it was just as dark as well.

He could remember the claustrophobia of the closet, the hot breaths that swelled the musty air, pathetic whimpers and revoltingly slick skin. His toes curls against the sheets at the thought, his lips pressed together in concentration. In his mind he could perfectly picture his _dear_ cousin, could admire vainly how much she resembled him in a sick fashion; Thin blonde hair and bright blue eyes.

Lucius bit down on his bottom lip to keep himself from shrieking in sudden anger.

That _half-blood_ had the nerve to attack him when he was off guard, and now all eyes would be on him, and more importantly- his cousin. It frustrated him to no end. Years, this routine had gone on. Now she dared to break that routine by opening her dirty mouth to a bunch of no-good delinquents. Now he'd have to punish her, and the tempting thought made his fingers itch and his stomach stir. As his hand sluggishly made it's way to his navel, he was interrupted by the sound of the hospital wing door opening. His eyes snapped open as he pulled himself into a sitting position, the room swaying slightly from the effects of the potions.

A tall boy in a green button up shirt and black school slacks sauntered over to Lucius' bed, tersely dropping a letter in his lap before leaning against the wall beside his bed.

"Came in the owl post for you this morning. Stupid bird wouldn't leave us alone until someone took the bloody thing."

The blonde didn't bother to reply, opening the envelope and pulling out the piece of parchment inside it. It was nothing of much importance, a letter from his mother fawning over him and his health, as well as telling him of their Christmas plans.

"Your mother expects people to go to that tiny excuse for a home? You should be embarrassed, Black."

Regulus Black's cheeks spotted pink in anger, his hand coming up to tuck a piece of ebony hair that had come loose from his ponytail behind his ear.

"Shut up, Malfoy."

Lucius smirked, enjoying what little satisfaction bothering the 5th year gave him.

"You don't deny it though."

The younger boy huffed and pushed away from the wall.

"Whatever. We leave at 11 tomorrow. Cissy's already packed your bloody stuff for you so you better be there on time."

With that, the haughty teenager stormed from the room.

* * *

It felt like a thousand pulses running through her head every minute.

The level of noise in the great hall wasn't helping either, and the bench was so packed that her thighs rubbed together painfully whenever she shifted nervously.

Eliza thought that _his_ unusual absence this morning would be a relief, but it was just making her more anxious than she already felt. Where was he? Different thoughts began to circle in her mind, make her hands become clammy as she weakly held her knife and fork against the table.

Her plate was empty, she felt too sick to her stomach to eat.

Lily was also no where to be seen, and so she was forced to be lead- by a quite giddy and nervous Lupin- to sit with the brash group of boys. Potter sat on the side of her that Lupin wasn't sitting on, Black and Pettigrew were across from her. The noise was generated mostly by Potter and Pettigrew, and even Eliza was perceptive enough in her strange state to know that Black's half-hearted attempts at contributing were off. Just as she was about to let out a sigh, a hand waved in front of her face startled her.

"I think she might have fallen asleep with her eyes open, Moony. You in there, Carliton?"

Turning to glare at Potter, who could only grin back at her, she huffed a reply.

"What do you want?"

The boy's expression immediately changed to something softer, and he pointed to the plates of food in the middle of the table.

"You should eat. What do you want? I'll help-"

"She's not a baby, Prongs."

Sirius sneered, his eyes narrowed at said girl.

"I know that, I'm just being gentlemanly."

Suddenly Eliza could feel the tension she hadn't noticed when she'd sat down in the first place.

There was an elephant in the room, and apparently she was it today.

Lupin shifted on her other side nervously once more, and she had to control the temptation to snap at him. His constant moving was pressing her thighs together even more, and the friction against her injured skin was killing her. She'd consumed the last of her pain potions the night before, and she felt horribly empty without anything to numb her. After she escaped from this calamity of a breakfast, the first thing she was doing was heading to the hospital wing-

"Did you hear me? I asked what you'd like."

Looking up at the bespectacled boy, Eliza was reminded by the look on his face of Caine. There was something in his pitied and almost parental gaze that looked so much like him, if only for a second.

"I'm fine actually, not that hungry-"

"No. Please, just eat something. You really should, after.."

Potter threw an exasperated look at her, and Eliza suppressed a groan as she rolled her eyes.

Great, as she had expected, after last night's... little show, now she had at least one more person to worry about bothering her. Her stomach flipped as she looked up at him once more, and was couldn't shake the feeling of Caine that surrounded this boy.

"Fine. Just some eggs and toast."

Just that little defeat was enough to please Potter, and he seemed to ignore the boorish looks Black was shooting at him as he piled far more food than she would ever eat onto her plate.

As she watched him, she felt slightly relaxed by his likelihood to her brother.

The toast tasted like cardboard on her tongue, and the eggs were a tad too runny, but she was numbly content for the moment, and the boys were ignoring her for the moment.

"W-what do you want to do after breakfast?"

Before she could stop the thought, Eliza noticed how adorable Lupin looked when he worried his bottom lip between his teeth nervously. Reminiscent of her dream, it quickly perturbed her.

_Large shot of brandy, and get rid of you._

"I don't know, what do you usually do?"

The whole exchange was uncomfortable. Eliza wished she could just ignore him, but as soon as Lupin had spoken up, she could feel Potter's eyes on her distractedly, and his damned words came to mind once more.

"W-well, we could just.. I don't know... I-I go to the library or we could-"

"No, no. Library's fine. Let's go. Now."

Somewhere quiet sounded great, and while she didn't really like the library- and the idea of spending time with this bumbling, _cute_ fool even less- at least it was out of the way.

* * *

Surprised by her compliance, Remus quickly moved out of his seat before she could change her mind. Eliza stood carefully and awkwardly, her blank face flashing a grimace so quickly he barely noticed it.

He tried to avoid catching the Marauder's eyes as he made to follow her, but failed when James obnoxiously threw him a grin and a thumbs up. Remus rolled his eyes.

Remus also couldn't help but notice that the Slytherins standing at the entrance to the great hall snarled at him louder than usual, and it made him shudder.

* * *

**Any who.. (AHHA different this time, huh?) hope this chapter's alright, it's a little filler-...y but that's just because I feel like if I put too much important stuff in every chapter than it gets too... dramatic. Let me know how you feel about the pace so far? I'm really raring to get farther and I think it's the inbetween action stuff that gives me writer's block. I can go faster if you guys want, just tell me. :)**

**-Laurence OUT! 3  
**


	13. A Test of Wills

**So it's been about a month since I've updated. Bad me. **

**There was a huge chunk of this that I finished and then SUPER-backpedaled on after I looked at the story outline again, because I wasn't sure if it would ruin later things I wanted to put in.**

**Ahh.. I have a giant folded piece of paper with a flowchart-y sort of thing that's been working as my plot outline. It's beautiful. And messy.**

**Finding time to do ANYTHING other than school has been hard lately. So much crap. Augh.**

**ANYWAYS. Let you read chapter now. Pwarh.**

**Hope you... Like it... yea.**

**-LaurenceEM**

**

* * *

**

Eliza never did understand how books could smell. What was it about them that could make a huge hall like that library reek of musty pages?

Running her fingers along the spines of the tomes in front of her, she tried to distract herself from shamefully staring at Remus' backside as he stood on the ladder next to her looking for a book.

Even though she was bored out of her mind, the presence of his precious texts had shut him up, so it wasn't too bad. Now if only she could get rid of this splitting headache and the ache in her body-

"Ah, here it is. D-do you want to sit down at the table over there? You look like you're in pain."

Eliza said nothing, but followed the nervous boy over to the table where he carefully placed the large book. He pulled out her chair for her- much to her annoyance- and then scooted his chair up to hers so their knees weren't _quite_ knocking together.

Reading the title painted neatly across the spine before Remus opened the book, Eliza raised an eyebrow.

"Hogwarts: A History?"

Eliza willed her face not to pink when the boy's golden eyes met with hers. She tried not to notice how dilated his pupils were against the gold of his irises.

"Um... Yes. Just doing a little research.."

Not feeling it worth bringing up, the blonde ignored his blatant suspicious attitude in favour of resting her head against the cool wood of the table while her _partner_ read.

She supposed this wasn't so bad. If he could learn to stop acting like a blithering idiot, maybe she could..

Eliza chewed on her tongue to stop her thoughts, focusing on the ringing in her ears and the pain in her head.

Usually the withdrawals didn't kick in this early, she assumed it must have something to do with all the potions she had taken the night before. Or the fact that the other night was worse than most. Lately, it seemed that most of her recent interactions with _him_ were worse than usual. Eliza thought fleetingly that it might have something to do with the fact that it was Lucius' last year, and this was his weird form of desperation; but even trying to imagine a look akin to desperation on his face was vaguely impossible for her.

"Did you know that muggle devices don't work on school grounds?"

"Lupin, I don't want to talk to you."

Though he did not make a sound after her rude interjection, Eliza could- to her disturbance- feel his hurt at her words. Involuntarily her own mouth pulled even further into a frown when the fabric of his trousers brushed against her naked knee. His clothing was soft with wear, the threads comfortable, unlike _his_ which always felt stiff and cold.

Blindly, she lifted a hand out until her fingers pressed against his robe covered torso. She tried to keep her mind as blank as possible as she let the pads of her thin fingers run along his clothed stomach, up to his collarbone. She could feel how tense the action made him- he held perfectly still, as if moving even the slightest inch would scare her away. A cool shiver ran over her body as she found her way to the slightly clammy skin along his neck, her jaw clenching anxiously as she felt his Adam's apple bob beneath her touch. Despite looking clean-shaven, the soft skin of his neck was covered as she reached his jaw in a light, short stubble.

Her head was now fogged by a mix of her numbing withdrawal, and the sudden need for human contact that had become part of her everyday struggle since she had 'met' him. With her conscious so pre-occupied with dealing with her symptoms of alcohol abuse, she was left defenceless against the constant sexual persuasion he unwillingly put on her. No matter how much she told herself that it disgusted her, and that she would never deserve anything less than to be outright back-handed for her forwardness, she couldn't stop.

Just as her fingernails scratched the sensitive skin of his bottom lip, her lack a thought-process was interrupted by the sound of fluttering.

Pulling her hand away as if burned, she sat up with a wince to look for the source of the sound.

It was a tiny note that was fluttering in front of Remus' nose, though his eyes were closed and he didn't seem in any state to notice such a thing.

After a few seconds, he seemed to startle himself back into reality, his face quickly painted red in embarrassment and want. Finally noticing the little piece of paper, he snatched it up, unfurling it with an annoyance Eliza had never seen before.

"It's from Lily," he stated matter-of-factually, "she says you need more potions from the infirmary."

Eliza rolled her eyes, not that the gesture meant much as she was facing away from the boy in a mirror of his embarrassment now. She should've guessed that the redhead would check her supply. It wasn't the first time.

"W-we can go now if you like. I'm done."

"I'm sure you are. Whatever, I don't care."

Suddenly all the walls were back up, and Eliza felt as numb as usual. Her _defiled_ fingers curled against the edge of her skirt as she stood, tugging it down as far as she could in an ashamed attempt to cover herself.

What had she been doing? Was she crazy?

Eliza stopped down the hall when she realized Remus wasn't following behind her.

Turning around with pursed lips, her eyes narrowed when she saw him staring so intensely at her from a distance that she was sure she turned a shade darker.

"I.."

* * *

Remus choked on his words, his throat constricting as he swallowed nervously. Taking enough long strides so he was now standing in front of her, his instincts made him feel almost drunk with a sudden pride in her previous actions. It had been like a sign for him, that he was doing something right. That maybe whatever they had, or could have, would work.

"I want to hold your hand."

It wasn't a ridiculous request. Toddlers held hands for Christ sake. The firmness of his voice after he had paused for a moment surprised him, and while a large part of him want to back down, another part of him held out a hand expectantly, his heart swelling as he looked down on Eliza. She really was tiny, almost a head smaller than him, though she didn't proportion so.

At first glance, her gloomy demeanour was intimidating, her thin blonde hair clung to the sides of her face like protective mask and her bandaged thighs peeked out from under her skirt as if to show the world how broken she was behind her mask.

He felt as if he was part of a stand-off, and were it not for his newly found instincts kicking in, he surely would've lost already.

As Remus looked closer at the girl in front of him, he realized that for the first time he could see the cracks in her fashioned character of cool and uncaring.

Eliza's eyes were red and her eyelashes adorned almost-tears like dew. Her hands trembled and she was chewing on the inside corner of her mouth. As these tiny quirks became more and more visible to him, Remus realized that being afraid of her was ridiculous, and would get him no where. She was a terrified rabbit facing the big bad wolf. Her reluctancy was a test of wills, and if this kept up any longer with her torturing him like this, he would hurt her more than he already had.

Remus could feel his pulse in his neck as he watched Eliza's eyebrows furrow and her hand slowly move out, as if she was reaching out to touch a hissing snake. His heart skipped a beat as their hands first made contact, his too warm grasp enveloping her slight, clammy one. It was a child's hold- a soft clasp that barely constituted as an intimate meeting of appendages in a sign of affection. It was enough for Remus (for now) and brought a soft smile to his face at his tiny victory.

"Thank you."

* * *

Dakota frowned at the array of dress robes strewn over his bed.

How had he not realized how ugly they were until now?

Most were a sobering black, and he knew from having tried them on that even though he had grown quite a bit since he'd last had to wear them (His grandmother Mildred's funeral), he still drowned in them like a child in adult's clothes.

The Carliton wished he had something with a colour that wasn't a pallid green, which seemed to be the only selection on the palette he could find. Moving over to his armoire, he rummaged through the pile of old clothes laying on it's floor for anything half-decent. He wasn't sure why he was bothering to dress up for the Christmas party, but something compelled him- perhaps boredom?- to go out of his way.

Pulling out a dress robe he had missed, he held it level with a critical eye.

Even just holding it up he knew it was far too short, it must've been a robe from when he was 4 or 5 years younger at least, as well as missing it's undershirt and bow tie.

"Maybe..."

He mumbled, throwing it over his head and shimmying the slightly too-tight garment on. It fell to just above his knees and the open sleeves pooled around his elbows.

Dakota chewed on his cheek. The robe was still black, but with it's missing accessories it left room for improvement, and if his parents didn't notice (unlikely), he could get away with it being almost seductively too short.

Turning to his closet, the youth dropped to his hands and knees and felt blindly on the dreary lit floor for the loose edge of the floorboard. When he found it, he gave a sharp pull that dislodged it from it's place, revealing a disgusting treasure box of nicknacks not mean for boys. Inside were years worth of neatly folded secrets- a pinkish girl's tank top, a skirt he'd snatched from his cousin Bella's room last summer, a box containing all the various hair pins and accessories his brother and sister had given him, and a handful of stockings and tights his sister had handed down to him once they were too small for her.

He quickly pulled out a pair of thick woollen dark grey tights, and placed the loose floorboard back into place. Dakota stood and after peeking his head out his door to make sure the floor was clear, he made quick work of pulling the undergarments on. A pale blue dress shirt he had and a makeshift bow-tie out of red ribbon finished his outfit. Standing in front of his mirror, Dakota ran his fingers through his curly, straw coloured locks and over his pale face.

"You look like a girl."

The talking mirror muttered, and the boy bit his lip in frustration, having heard it a thousand times.

"Bugger off."

* * *

In the pale light of coming winter, the infirmary looked akin to the hospital. From where Eliza stood at the door, the room was vaguely empty, and the patients whom she could see filling it were all asleep.

Pomfrey was nowhere to be seen, so she assumed she was in her office.

As Remus pulled the door the the hall closed, she felt like retching all over the too-clean white floors.

Her stomach felt like someone was wringing it with their hands, her throat constricting and her mouth dry. Her tongue reminisced of the long-for taste of alcohol; eyesight was too crisp and clear for her own liking.

She needed a drink, almost as badly as she needed to be alone once more. Eliza was not unfamiliar with her body's reaction to withdrawal, but this was so much worse than ever before. Part of her believed that it came from her 'new body's' unwanted urges, and with Remus' sweaty hand pressed wetly to her own, the feeling was tenfold.

His sudden change in attitude less than a half hour ago had been startling, and had it been anyone else she would've been felt affronted. But that tone of voice- demanding and while it had held no tinge of threat, almost scary- was engraved in her brain as something she listened to with no questions asked, no matter how sick it made her feel.

"Wait right here, I'll go and get Madame Pomfrey for you."

As their hands unclasped, Eliza held back a gasp as the overwhelming, heady influence of his skin on hers faded. Remus was already gone, and as the pain she'd forgotten in her thighs and head came rushing back, she stumbled backwards to lean against the wall.

To her right the was the sound of a door opening, and soft chattering floating her way, but what caught her sensitive ears more was the rustling of curtains somewhere to her left.

Eyes dragging over the beds only to find she couldn't see the source of the noise, she distracted herself by watching Remus make his way over to her with arms full of thick, dark red liquid-filled potion vials, Pomfrey in tow.

"You're lucky this batch just finished. If you keep up this rate Ms. Carliton, you are going to be in quite some trouble next time around."

The healer looked flustered today, her hair falling out of it's bun and the sides of her neck peppered red. Eliza took the remainder of the vials Pomfrey held into one hand, using her free hand to pop the top off one and raise it to her lips.

"Do you have anything for headaches? Something strong."

"Of course, deary. I'll be right back."

She could feel Remus' eyes on her from the chills running down her neck, but she was too distracted to snipe at him by the sound of rustling once more.

Eliza could see the pale curtains of the bed directly across from her being pulled back, and with a mouth full of disgusting blood-replenishing potion, she felt the glass vial slip from her hand in shock.

Lucius' pale blue eyes fell on her from across the room, his bruised eyes darkening as her brow furrowed at the sight of her.

'What's wrong, Elizab-"

He was silenced when he followed her gaze.

She couldn't believe what she was seeing.

Powerful, calm, unbeatable Lucius Malfoy sat defeated in a hospital bed. His nose was covered in bandages and the skin under his nose was stained red with residue blood. His long hair was dull and mussed (if only slightly), and for some reason, the consuming fear that she usually felt whenever she looked into those eyes was dulled by a instinctual belief that Remus could somehow protect her.

The sound of the glass vial shattering at her feet brought the two back to reality, as well as Madame Pomfrey's scolding on her return.

"My goodness! This is what I'm talking about, you must be more careful."

The older lady pulled out her wand, flicking it at the mess on the floor as she handed Eliza the blue bottle in her hand.

"Drink up, and then you can get out of here."

Downing the potion and handing Pomfrey the empty bottle, Eliza abruptly bolted for the door, Remus on her heels.

* * *

**A-hur, so there's the chapter.**

**I think the ending didn't get flushed out enough, maybe it's just me. I think I started to get a little desprete with how late this chapter was to begin with so yea...**

**I've got a couple things already laid out for the next chapter so hopefully it won't take as long!**

**-LaurenceEM**

**P.S: EVERYONE EXCITED FOR DEATHLY HALLOWS PART 1? 32 Days, 5 hours, 24 minutes to go, as of this post.**

**P.P.S: (Is it the p or the S? I dunno) I have a desktop countdown clock, because I'm nerdrific like that.**

**HUZAH!  
**


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